BY-ELECTION IN RAGLAN

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24815, 4 March 1946, Page 4

BY-ELECTION IN RAGLAN

POLLING TO-MORROW

The Raglan by-election to fill the seat in the House of Representatives left vacant by the recent death of Mr R. Coulter (Government) will be held to-morrow. For the first time since

the General Election of 1931 there will be a straight-out contest, the candidates being Mr A. C. Baxter (Labour) and Mr H. Johnstone (National). It will be the fifth by-election since the General Election of 1943. At each of the other four polls—Awarua, Hamilton, Western Maori, and Dunedin North—the party formerly holding the seat retained it. Additional interest attaches to the Raglan by-election, however, because of the closeness of the voting at the General Election, when Mr Coulter was returned on a minority vote, polling 48 per cent, of the votes cast. The Government hopes that the elimination of votesplitting -will, be to its advantage and that, in spite, of its declining vote at the Hamilton and Dunedin North polls, it will be able to hold Raglan by a bigger margin than it did in 1943.

The voting at the General Election was as follows: —

Labour won Raglan in 1935, when Mr W. Lee Martin member from 1927 to 1931, unseated Mr D. S. Reid (National), polling 55.49 per cent, of the votes in a four-cornered contest. In the 1938 election he retained the seat, polling 52.54 per cent, of the votes in a three-cornered contest. Raglan is an unusual electorate, with a mixture of coalmining and farming population. It is one of the North Island seats which may be eliminated as a result of the abolition of the country quota. If it is retained in the adjustment of boundaries it will have to be substantially enlarged.

R. Coulter (L.) .. 4817 R. J. Glasgow (N.) .. 4709 A. T. Dillon (D.S.L.) .. .. 289 S. Burton (R.D.) 221 Majority for Coulter .. .. 108