Councillor seeks Yaldhurst seat

Press, 19 July 1983, Page 8

Councillor seeks Yaldhurst seat

Mr David Close, a Christchurch City Councillor and former Labour Party candidate in Fendalton, has put himself forward for the party’s nomination for the Yaldhurst electorate. The sitting member of Parliament for Yaldhurst, Mr M. A. Connelly, announced earlier this year that he would retire from e‘ ‘cs before next year’s ral Election. The chairman of the Canterbury Regional Council of the Labour Party, Mr Garth Lomax, has already announced that he is seeking the nomination for that seat. The chairman of the Labour Electorate Committee in Yaldhurst, Mr Maurice Gough, said yesterday that about five people had expressed an interest in the seat so far. More were

likely to put themselves forward before nominations close at the end of the month. There was no dominant candidate at this stage, he said. Mr Close, a former secretary for the New Brighton branch of the Labour Party, stood as the Labour candidates in Fendalton in 1978 and in 1981. He organised the Labour Party conference in Christchurch in 1977 and was co-ordinator for the party in the local authority elections in the same year. A teacher at Christchurch Boys’ High School, Mr Close has been a Christchurch City councillor since 1977 and is chairman of the works and traffic committee. He is a member of the New Zealand Roadshow Trust. He lives in Wainoni.