SEAT RETAINED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 192, 28 May 1945, Page 5

SEAT RETAINED

HAMILTON BY-ELECTION. NATIONAL PARTY SUCCESS. (P.A.) HAMILTON, May 27. By a. majority of 958 votes over the Labour Parly’s candidate (Mr C. A. Darrell), tlie National Party retained the Hamilton seat, in the House of Representatives. at a by-election held yesterday. The new member, Mrs Hilda. Ross, will be the sixth woman to take her seat in the House of Representatives. Other women members have been the late Mrs E. R. McCombs, Labour member for Lyttelton from 1934 to 1935; Mrs M. Dreaver, Labour member for Waitemata from 1936, to 1943; Mrs C. Stewart, Labour member for Wellington West from 1938 to 1943; Mrs M. V. Grigg, National member for Mid-Canterbury from 1942 to 1943; and Miss M. B. Howard (Labour), sitting member for Christchurch East, who was first elected in 1943. The by-election at Hamilton was necessitated by Iho death of the sitting member, Mr F. Findlay, and was the third such election held since the General Election of 1943, the others being in Awarua and Western Maori. Details of the Voting. Details of the voting in yesterday’s election were as follow: Mrs Hilda Ross (National) .. 6218 C. A. Darrell (Labour) .. .. 5260 j. A. Lee (Democratic Labour) 1132 Douglas Seymour (Independent) 138 Majority for Mrs Ross .. 958 Mrs Ross lias been Deputy-Mayor of Hamilton since last November, and a member of the Hamilton Borough Council for 12 months. She is well known for her work in hospital administration and lias been a member of the Waikato Hospital Board for four years. Mrs Ross has also been prominent in patriotic activities and is president of the Hamilton Women’s Patriotic Committee and an executive member of the Waikato Patriotic Zone Committee. She is president of the Lady Galway Guild and also president of the St. John Ambulance Nursing Division. For 17 years Mrs Ross has helped to conduct the children’s health camp at Pork Waikato, and has always taken an interest in the welfare of youth. MR NASH’S COMMENT. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, May 27. Commenting on the result of the Hamilton by-election, the ActingPrime Minister (the Hon. W. Nash) said the guns of the National Party and its auxiliary organisation, the Democratic Labour Party, were, as in the General Election in 1943, too much for the Labour candidate.