POLLING TO-MORROW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 237, 7 October 1930, Page 9

POLLING TO-MORROW.

TWO BY-ELECTIONS

WAIFAWA AND WESTERN

MAORI.

STATE OF THE PARTIES,

By-elections to fill the vacancies in the House of Representatives caused by the deaths of Sir George Hunter, member f or Waipawa, and Sir Maui Poniare, representative of the Western Maori electorate, will be held to-morrow. It is probable that, as the result of the contests, the position of the United rtv w jn b e strengthened, as both the lite*ffletobere were supporters of the RfcfMffl party* At all events, even if the voting swings in the other direction, the position of the Government will not be affected. _ In the Waipawa electorate the fight for political honours is a straight-out issue, as there are only Reform and United candidates in the field. Mr. William Tucker, of Give, is contesting the scat in the interests of Reform, and Mr. Albert Edward dull, of Waipawa, is carrying the United party's banner. The Government candidate has been fighting an uphill battle throughout, as the seat was held continuously for 21 years by the late Sir George Hunter. At the „ c ncral election in 1928 Sir George secured 3983 votes, as compared with 2123 votes and 13G2 votes recorded in favour of Mr. E. A. Goodger and Mr. D. B. Kent respectively, both of whom stood in the United interests. Three Maori Candidates. Three parties are represented in the Western Maori by-election. Mr. Pei Te Hurunui-Jones is seeking election in the interests of the Young Maori party; Mr. Taite Te Tomo is out to retain the seat for Reform, and Mr. Haami Tokouru Rat aii a is desirous of representing the Ratana party. The last-named was Sir Maui Pomare's opponent in the general election, and suffered defeat,. 3075 votes being recorded for him as compared with 4674 for the late member. The greater part of Auckland city and suburbs and Wellington are included in the electorate, the eastern boundary ot which follows a line more or less through the centre of the IvTorth Island between the two cities. The Maori popu-; lation of the Chatham Islands is included in the district, although the Europeans on the island are in the Lyttelton electorate. Other By-elections. Since the general election the Hutt and Parnell seats have been lost by the Government, while in the Invercargill contest a majority of 317S for Sir Joseph Ward was reduced to 571 for Mr. Vincent Ward in the by-election following the veteran statesman's death. After the general election Reform and the United party each had 28 members, while Labour had 19 seats. Labour gained a victory at the Hutt by-elec-tion (caused by the appointment of Sir Thomas Wilford as High Commissioner), 1 and Reform won the Parnell seat following the resignation of Mr. H. R. Jenkins. The present state of the parties is:— Reform 27 United 26 Labour 20 Independents 4 Country 1 The Independents are the Speaker, Sir Charles Statham (Dunedin Central), Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Egmont), Mr. W. J. Poison (Stratford), and Mr. J. S. Fletcher, who lately retired from the United party. Mr. J. T. Hogan (Rangitikei) was elected as an Independent. He is included in the United party's total, however, as he attends the party caucuses and has supported the Government on no-confidence motions.