WILL NOT STAND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 94, 21 April 1944, Page 6

WILL NOT STAND

AS OFFICIAL LABOUR

MR. SAYEGH'S DECISION

Without giving any reasons for his decision, Mr. Joseph Sayegh, member of five local bodies in Auckland, announced to-day that he would not be an official Labour candidate for any office at the coming local elections. At the last three successive elections Mr. Sayegh has been the official Labour "candidate for the Mayoralty of Auckland. "My decision does not necessarily mean that I have finished with public life," said Mr. Sayegh. "The .citizens have been loyal to me in their thcpusands, and if they ask for my services I shall be willing to give them." "Would you be prepared, then, to come out as an Independent Labour candidate, or as an Independent?" Mr. Sayegh was asked, but he declined to amplify his statement. At present, as an official Labour representative, Mr. Sayegh is a member of the Auckland Harbour Board, on which he has served for 12 years, the Auckland Hospital Board, six years, Auckland Electric Power Board, six years, Auckland Transport Board, nine years, and the Auckland Licensing Committee, nine years. He is president of the Auckland East branch of the New Zealand Labour party, which office he has held for eight years. His most important office was that of chairman of the Transport Board for two years. For eight years he was a member of the Auckland City Council.

The Labour party has not so far announced a candidate for the Auckland Mayoralty.

Mr. Savegh has been an active member of the Labour party for 25 years. He emphasised to-day that he was not resigning from the party. The party's lists of official candidates, published last Wednesday, revealed that Mr. Sayegh's name had been dropped from the Hospital Board, the Transport Board, and the Harbour Board, his only nomination being for the Auckland Electric Power Board and the Auckland City Council.