CITIZENS WIN CITY COUNCIL

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28129, 19 November 1956, Page 10

CITIZENS WIN CITY COUNCIL

Mr Macfarlane Again Mayor

LABOUR LOSES SEATS ON TWO BOARDS

Christchurch electors, in a light poll on Saturday, chose a Labour Mayor but a Citizens’ Association City Council. Citizens’ Association candidates gained ground in the Lyttelton Harbour Board and the North Canterbury Catchment Board elections, but the position of the North Canterbury Hospital Board was unchanged, each of the parties having five city members.

Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P. (Labour), in a straight-out contest with Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon, was returned as Mayor for the third successive term. His majority of 3661 in a poll of 36,525 was the biggest he has received in his four successful elections. In a bigger poll in 1953 he had a margin of 2269 over Mr J. L. Hay.

The new City Council will comprise 12 Citizens’ Association members and seven Labour Party, compared with nine each with one independent, formerly a Labour member, on the last council. Two Labour candidates, the present Deputy-Mayor (Mr G. Manning) and Miss M. B. Howard, M.P., were at the top of the poll, but then came four Citizens’ candidates. All sitting Citizens’ Association councillors who sought re-election w-ere returned. Two Labour councillors, Messrs A. J. Smith and J. Shankland, sen., both of whom were chairmen of committees, lost their seats, as did Mr C. Baldwin, a former Labour member who stood as an independent.

The election of Mr M. A. Connelly, M.P., as a. new councillor means that every Labour member of Parliament in the Christchurch metropolitan area is also on the council.

About 1300 postal and declaration votes are to be counted. They could affect the constitution, but it is more likely that they will affect the membership. Two Labour candidates are at the bottom of the successful list and a Labour man tops the list of unsuccessful candidates. The nearest Citizens’ Association candidate requires 256 votes to catch up the lowest Of the elected Labour candidates.

The 36,525 votes cast in the Mayoral election represent 41.2 per cent, of the electors’ roll of 85,358, and compare with about 49 per cent, in 1953. Miss M. McLean returned to the North Canterbury Hospital Board as a Citizens’ Association member, and a new Citizens’ member is Professor A. J. Danks. Other sitting members who sought re-election were returned, except for Mr J. J. Brownlee, a former Citizens’ member, who stood on Saturday as an independent and, with 15,390 votes, topped the list of unsuccessful candidates.

Elections for the board were necessary in only three of the outside districts, and from them only one new member, Mr G. H. Oldham, representing Paparua and Riccarton, will join the board.

Harbour Board

Mr F. I. Sutton, a Citizens’ Association candidate, beat Mr N. R. Forbes (Labour) for a seat on the Harbour Board, in which Mr G. Manning topped the poll, almost 1000, ahead of the

Mayoral candidate, Mr Mac Gibbon. Labour gained another seat, however, through the election of Mr W. B. Laing, to represent the combined districts of Lyttelton and Akaroa boroughs and Banks Peninsula counties, a seat previously held by Mr F. E. Sutton as an Independent. Mr L. G. Amos, a city councillor, won the Waimairi county and Riccarton borough seats on the board from a sitting member, Mr J. Halligan. In the election for two members to represent Ashburton on the board, Mr J. Brand was first, and a sitting member, Mr E. C. Bathurst second, but the second seat could be affected by about 200 votes still to be counted. Mr Bathurst was only 12 ahead of his opponent on Saturday. The Citizens** M *Association candidates won all four city seats on the Catchment Board, and the candidate with the lowest number of votes was nearly 1200 ahead of Mr J. Shankland, sen., the only Labour member of the previous board. *

Changes in Lyttelton The sitting Labour Mayor of Lyttelton (Mr F. G. Briggs) was re-elected with a majority of 322 over Mr J. B. Collett, an Independent. The Labour Party gained one seat on the Borough Council, holding six of the nine. An Independent, Captain A. R. Champion, the harbourmaster, topped the poll. In Riccarton there was' no election for the Mayor, and all the sitting councillors were re-elected. There was only one other candidate. Labour gained two more seats on the Kaiapoi Borough Council to hold seven of the nine, but an independent candidate, Mr H. L. Oram, topped the poll. The Labour Mayor (Mr N. E. Kirk) was returned unopposed. Two sitting councillors were defeated in the Rangiora borough election. There, too, the Mayor (Mr C. W. Tyler) was not opposed. In the counties around Christchurch where there were elections there were some particularly close results, a numbr of which are still in doubt until final returns are received.

In Heathcote, a sitting councillor and former county clerk, Mr A. E. Aymes, lost his seat in the Hillsborough riding.