Transport, Drainage Board Elections

Press, Volume C, Issue 29637, 6 October 1961, Page 6

Transport, Drainage Board Elections

The triennial elections for the Christchurch Transport and Drainage Boards will be held tomorrow, with the polling hours 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Apathy by electors in the past has led both parties—the .Christchurch Citizens’ Association and the Labour Party—which are cori‘¥stifig the elections to urge all electors to the polls, but that same apathy has resulted in less campaigning, fewer meetings, and less advertising than are normally associated with an election. All the nine seats on the Transport Board are being contested. For the Drainage Board there will be an election in nine of the 14 subdistricts, the other candidates being returned unopposed. When the last elections were held they coincided with a mayoral by-election and a by-election for four seats on the City Council. As a result the boards had the biggest polls for a number of years. Politically, there is probably more interest in the Transport Board result than in that for the Drainage Board. Unopposed candidates for the latter board and thpattern of voting in the past almost certainly assuie a Citizens’ Association body. Three years ago the Labour Party gained a bare majority of the seats on the Transport Board. The returning officers for the board —Mr T. A. Tucker (drainage) and Mr J. F. Fardel! (transport)-i-yesterday explained some points which may have been puzzling electors. General Franchise

Mr Fardell said there was a general franchise, not just a vote of ratepayers, as some persons appeared to think. Anyone who was enrolled who was over the age of 21. a Britisti-born or naturalised subject resident in New Zealand for one year and in the

sub-district for which He or she sought a vote for three months, or who was a ratepayer within the district, was entitled to vote. Mr Tucker made a similar comment on voting qualifications, but added that the Drainage Board’s position was d little tnore complicated, as its district extended beyond the Transport Board's. No elections are being held in the board's sub-districts of north-west. Sydenham, Heathcote, Riccarton-Papa-rua. and Sumner. In each a candidate has been returned unopposed. Ordinary voting was possible only at the polling places named for each subdistrict, but provision had been made at the Transport Board's shelter in Cathedral square and at the New Brighton School for ordinary voting facilities for any subdistrict, Mr Tucker, said. Special Votes Special voting facilities were provided at all drainage board polling places for any sub-district for electors who qualified. These facilities had been available for the last two weeks. Electors who had taken or who would take special voting papers should ensure that they were returned to any of the board's polling places before tiie close of the poll. Generally, the boards’ polling places are shared, but the Drainage Board's district extends beyond that of the Transport Board and there are a few polling booths where only Drainage Board Votes will be taken. Although neither party has held more than one meeting of candidates, individuals seeking election have been active in distributing householder pamphlets giving their own views as well as their parties’ policies. A full list of polling places is advertised today in "The Press.”