THE MAYORALTY

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25309, 8 October 1947, Page 9

THE MAYORALTY

ONE-MAN CAMPAIGN BY 'MR LYONS

TWO WEEKS ELECTIONEERING BY PARTIES’ CANDIDATES

A one-man campaign is likely to be staged in the election for the mayoralty of Christchurch by Mr M. E. Lyons, who remains adamant in his decision to stand as an Independent. Unlike Mr E. H. Andrews (Citizens’ Association) and Mr D. Barnes (Labour Party), the other two candidates so far announced, Mr Lyons will be without the support of any organisation, and he does not propose to form one committee. Mr Lyons intends to fight the campaign single-handed. For him, it will probably be' a whirlwind campaign. Election day is November 19; P ople’s Day at the A. and P. Association’s Show, for which Mr Lyons is secretary, is on November 14. A meeting or two before the show may be held by Mr Lyons, but he will probably have to depend on three nights of strenuous electioneering in various parts of the city. Neither the Citizens’ Association nor the Labour Party has yet fixed a definite date for the opening of the campaigns, but Mr Andrews attended his first election meeting yesterday at Woolston, where a women’s meeting convened by the association was well attended. Mr Barnes also began his electioneering last evening, when he attended a rpeeting called by the St. Martins branch of the Labour Party. The campaign proper by the Citizens’ Association is likely to begin about November 3. A cleavage threatened in the ranks of City Council members of the Citizens’ Association in the preliminaries leading to the official selection of a mayoral candidate has not developed, and activity within the association has closed the breach. Several councillors, including Crs. J. E. Tait, J. L. Hay, A. R. Guthrey, and G. D. Griffiths, were reported to have been strong supporters of the selection of Mr Lyons, who was, however, defeated at the ballot, the voting being: Mr Andrews 22, Mr Lyons 6, Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon 2. Before the voting was taken, both Mr Andrews and Mr Mac Gibbon affirmed that, if unsuccessful, they would work for the return of the selected candidate.

A rift in the ranks appeared to be developing after s the selection, but it has closed since Mr Lyons made clear to a deputation that he would not retire from the contest unless Mr Andrews also retired, and made the way clear for the Citizens’ Association to re-select a candidate. A proposal was made some days after the deputation that sitting councillors, elected on the Citizens’ Association’s ticket in 1943, should wait on Mr Andrews and suggest his withdrawal. The proposal was dropped.