VOTING TO-DAY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 62, 14 March 1944, Page 6

VOTING TO-DAY

CONTROL OF HOTELS

LICENSING COMMITTEES

Nomination of a "ticket" of four clergymen and a Salvation Army officer for the combined Auckland district, also temperance candidates for the Remuera, Onehunga and Waitemata district, added interest to the licensing committee elections today, the first held in Auckland since 1939. The Parliamentary franchise applied. The polls opened at 9 a.m and will close at 7 this evening. $ is probable that the city results -will be announced about an hour later There was no poll in the Otahuhu district, where the required num. ber of candidates were nominated Voting was steady at the booths in the metropolitan area throughout the morning, but there was not the activity of a general election. In one respect the fact that it was the day of the licensing polls was impressed on many people. Hotels in districts where polls were in progress closed at noon, and when "Time, gentlemen!" was called bv members of hotel staffs, the an. nouncement, to some, came as a com" plete surprise, particularly to over seas visitors unacquainted with the way the Dominion controls some of its domestic affairs. No half-holiday was observed in connection with the elections In the majority of cases members of staffs had at least two hours in whirh to record their votes after ceasing work for the day. s