CANTERBURY SEATS Mr Carr A Difficult Opponent In Timaru

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28435, 15 November 1957, Page 14

CANTERBURY SEATS Mr Carr A Difficult Opponent In Timaru

[By Our Parliamentary Reporter!

In 1928 newspapers reported that the biggest surprise in the General Election that year was the “sensational defeat” of the sitting member of Parliament for Timaru, Mr F. J. Rollcston. Mr Rollcston was the Reform Government’s Attorney-General. He had held the seat with what had been thought a comfortable majority of 2486.

The candidate who slipped into the seat 467 votes ahead was Labour’s Mr C. L. Carr, who held the constituency for eight subsequent election contests and is now preparing for what will be his toughest fight to retain his place. In what theoretically would be a National-voting area, Timaru has consistently returned Mr Carr because it has thought he lived up to his motto: “Service.” He improved his majority'’each election after 1928 to reach a peak margin of 2094 votes in 1938. In 1946 he was down to 558 as a majority, but he gained to 810. in 1949; fell to 653 in 1951; but improved to a majority of 1423 in a three-cornered contest with a Social Credit candidate in the field at the last General Election in 1954. Watching with Interest In the General Election this month, Mr Carr will be opposed by another Timaru resident, Mr A. J. Davey, who has been representing Waimatc in Parliament. Mr Davey lost his seat when the Representation Commisr’on dissolved Waimatc. Much of Waimatc and the defunct Oamaru electorate became the new seat, Waitaki. The member of Parliament for Oamaru, Mr T. L. Hayman, won

the competition with Mr Davey for National Party nomination in Waitaki and Mr Davey took Timaru. A Fairlie farmer, Mr F. C. Isitt, is the Social Credit candidate. Last election Mr Carr polled 6241 votes compared with 4818 votes given the National candidate and 2853 votes for the Social Credit man.

Political observers in many parts of Now Zealand arc watching Timaru with interest. They feel the trend of the Timaru campaign and result of voting will reflect a conflict of personalities rather than policies. They'count Mr Isitt out of the contest. The main battle, they say. is between Mr Davey and Mr Carr. They ask two questions: Will Mr Carr’s reputation as a good local member and his florid oratory offset criticisms of his present capacity in relation to his advancing age (in the early seventies) ?

Will the younger Mr Davey—stolid, plain and with an equally good reputation in local body affairs —be able to impress the electorate sufficiently to swing voting from an established and difficult opponent? Both men arc lobbying hard for support: Mr Carr, particularly, is reported to be working harder

than ever before to ensure his re-election. On the surface, however. he does not appear to be unduly worried.

"They’ve said I was going out before, and I did’nt. They've said I'm going out now, but I’m not," he says.

Mr Davey, who was approached in the winter by a large group of National Party interests with the object of getting him to represent them in the election, is not over-confident. “The prospects arc as good as they can be expected. This is the best chance we have had since 1928," arc his comments.