THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

HEAVY POLLING IN CHRISTCHURCH. CONTEST FOR THE MAYORALTY. MR ALLISON RE-ELECTED. THE OLD COUNCIL RETURNED. Yesterday was one of the rare occasions on which Christchurch has mana § e ? t.° become really seriously interested m a iriunicipal poll. After an election m which the polling was thes heaviest since Greater Christchurch was established, the Mayor and the old City Council were returned by substantial majorities. In many years the residents who were qualified to .vote have displayed a lamentable apathy in regard to municipal matters, and the percentage of votes cast hafc been usually meagre and often ridiculously small, iui^iffc .^eveir, the importation of the half-holiday question into the elec- « A stirred , th e electors, who threw off the complacent indifference that has characterised their attitude in regard to municipal politics, and there was a steady stream of voters at each pollingbooth,, although only 50 per cent of those on the rolls visited the booths. The polhng m the Mayoral contest may Sf<^ *S as V" te "on of tjie interest displayed, and the returns show that wSS C&^t TOt 1?- of whieL 77 wer « invalid. The polling on the half-holiday proposal was slightly heavier, 8915 valid and ?6 invalid votes being cast. +W +u gen ?i a JI Tesu % of the Polling was that the old Council was returned Two members of the old Council did not stand for election, Mr J. D. Hall de-* clininor nomination and Mr H H Loughnan preferring to contest ' the Mayoral contest, but there has been no other change in the personnel of the city government. ' Mr Allison was again returned as Mayor, defeating Mr Loughnan by 2106 votes. The elections were given an additional interest by the fact that for the nrst time Labour candidates were included in the list of contestants, bnfc none were successful thoughone or two polled heavily. At nieht the results were shown from a large board outside the old Provincial Oouncil Chambers, where about three thousand people congregated The cro , wd , throughout was pood-tempered and though one or two of the defeated candidates had to submit to a good deal of "heckling" it was cheerfully given and no less cheerfully taken. The first result announced was that determining the half-holiday for the city, and it made its appearance at 9.15. After that the returns came in slowly and ib was not until after 11.30 that the nnal results were announced, and the crowd, which by that time had dwindied to about 200 people, finally left the Council Chambers to the returning- ' officer and hie officials. **s •