POLL PROGRESS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 227, 24 September 1943, Page 4

POLL PROGRESS

STAR'S BIG DISPLAY SCREEN AND LOUD-SPEAKER Elaborate arrangements have been made by the Auckland Star to convey the progress results of the general election to the public as rapidly and interestingly as possible. As in the past a screen has been erected on the Fort Street frontage, and a group of powerful loudspeakers will enable the progress of the poll to be announced as soon as the returns arrive in the Star office.

To enable this service to be given as expeditiously as possible all the facilities of the Star will be brought into play. An important part of the system is the Star's battery of telephones, and all will be fully occupied. Subscribers are asked, therefore, not to ring the Star office to-morrow night after 7 p.m. Results cannot, under any circumstances, be given to the public over the telephone. Considerable Entertainment Thousands of people have gathered in front of the Fort Street display on the night of former general elections, and, in addition to the constant information concerning the poll, with which they were supplied by screen and loud-speaker, there is usually a considerable amount of spontaneous entertainment offering.

The intersection of Fort and Commerce - Streets, well away from wheeled traffic, offers a natural "grandstand," • and the voice of the Star's experienced announcer will carry to the furthest limits of the area. He will be at the microphone punctually at 7 p.m., which is the hour when polling concludes and counting begins, and the first preliminary results of the local seats should be at hand within a few minutes.

Selected returns of major interest, together with photographs, caricatures and entertaining slides, will be displayed on a screen as at past elections. An augmented tram service will run till 11 p.m., when the announcing will end. Last trams leave the city at 11.30.

, Candidates, successful or unsuccessful, are welcome to speak through the loud-speaker system, as soon as the result of the poll in their respective electorates has been announced.