ELECTION TO-DAY

A MILLION VOTERS

NEW ZEALAND RECORD LONG LIST OF CANDIDATES A record total of more than 1,000,000 people are entitled to vote to-day in the election of 76 European members of the House of Representatives. Nominations for these seats number 270. Together with the 21 candidates who contested the four Maori electorates yesterday, the total of 291-candidates is also believed to be a Dominion record. The members elected yesterday and today will form New Zealand's 27th Parliament. Electors will also be called upon today to exercise their vote on the licensing question. The poll will be tlio seventh at which the three issues, National Continuance, State Purchase and Control, and Prohibition, have been submitted to the electors. Local option polls will bo held in 12 districts, including four in Auckland. Voting hours are from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Civilians and Servicemen The total number of electors on the civilian rolls is 1,018,834, but, according to the chief electoral officer, Well-, ington, this figure includes many servicemen who registered before going overseas. As the names of these men also appear on the special service rolls, it is not possible to compute precisely the total number of eligible voters. That this total will probably be considerably above the figure quoted is apparent from the fact that the names ot many other service personnel appear only on the speci.il rolls, the totals for which are not available. The number of eligible electors at the three preceding general elections were as follows:—1938, 995,173; 1935, 919,798; 1931, 835.344. The large number of candidates makes the election comparable with the 1935 contest, when there were 265 aspirants for the 80 seats. On the other hand, there is a striking contrast with the 1938 election, when there were only 176 candidates, and when most of the contests were solely between Labour and National Party supporters. Position at Dissolution The state of the parties at the dissolution of Parliament on August 30 last, and the number of candidates in the election to-day, are:— At dissolu- Candition da^tes Labour . . . . 49 77 Independent Labour .. National .. . .. 23 '' Independent National .. Democratic Labour .. 1 53 Ind. Democratic Labour .. People's Movement .. "Real Democracy •• Fighting Forces League .. - i 3 Independents . ■ .. 4 2f) Vacant seats . . .. 3 Two of the three Fighting Forces League candidates are also sponsored by the Real Democracy Movement. Since nominations closed, several candidates have announced their intention of withdrawing from the campaign, although their names tvill be shown on the voting papers. These include Mr. H. S. S. Kyle, the retiring member for Riccarton, who was standing in the interests of the People's Movement, Dr. Maud T. Fere, who was contesting Cliristchurch North as an Independent, and Flying-Officer R. C. Clayton, who was the People's Movement nominee for Pa tea.

Two Uncontested Seats All seats were contested at the 1935 and 1938 elections, but two members have been re-elected unopposed on'this occasion. They are both Nationalists, Brigadier J. Hargest, D.5.0., M.C. (Awarua) and Captain T. L. Macdonahl (Mataura). On the other hand, there are only 13 constituencies this year where the issue is a straight-out contest between two candidates. For all the other seats, there are three or more aspirants, including six electorates where six nominees are standing. In nine electorates, the retiring members are not sebking re-election. These are Remuera, Raglan, Egmont, Paten, Mannwatu, Hurunui, Riccarton, MidCanterbury and Dunedin West. The Kaipara and Pahiatua seats have been vacant since the deaths of the former members. The Licensing Issue On the provisional count after the 1938 election, Labour polled 475,167 votes, National 351,287. and Independents, 29,173. The percentage of electors who voted was 92.85. In the licensing issue, Prohibition or State Control must gain a clear majority over the other two issues in order to defeat Continuance of the present licensing position. In the local option polls, three-fifths of the valid votes cast are required for the carrying of the proposal. The results of the last two licensing polls were as follows:—• Continuance .. 521,167 640,995 State Control .. 57,409 00.131 Prohibition .. 243,091 203,208 A list of the candidates for the Dominion appears on page 9.