CHRISTCHURCH EAST SEAT

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23803, 24 November 1942, Page 4

CHRISTCHURCH EAST SEAT

* LABOUR NOMINATIONS Although the by-election for the Christchurch East seat, made vacant by the death of the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, will not take place until January, considerable interest. is already being shown by the political parties. The announcement that the Democratic Labour Party will nominate Mr H. E. Herring, a former member for Mid-Canterbury, has already quickened interest in the by-election. Five nominations are reported to have been made by the joint meeting of the Christchurch East-St. Martins branches of the Labour Party last week. The names sent forward to the National Executive of the Labour Party, which chooses the official candidate for a by-election, were:—Mrs H. T. Armstrong (widow of the Minister). Mr A. E. (Tom) Armstrong (who last year was officially selected to oppose the Speaker, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, for the Napier seat), Miss Mabel Howard, Mr H. McCaw (chairman of the Christchurch East committee), and Mr J. E. Jones. , A possible selection of the National Executive of the Labour Party is Mr T. H. Langford, the Transport Authority, who is now engaged on zoning work. Mr John Roberts, the president of the North Canterbury Labour Representation Committee and of the Christchurch branch of the Federation of Labour, is unlikely to allow his name to go forward, and another probable defection from the nominees is the Hon. A. McLagan (Minister of Industrial Manpower and of National Service). When he was appointed to the Executive Council Mr McLagan was appointed a member of the Legislative Council. Christchurch East is the first by-election at which he could, following English precedents, submit himself to the electors; but it is understood that, following on his resolve to retain Ministerial rank only for the duration of the war, Mr McLagan does not propose to enter the political field of Labour. The enrolment of electors not on the rolls in Christchurch East has begun, and both Labour and National Parties are active.