CIVIC ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2448, 29 April 1915, Page 6

CIVIC ELECTIONS

RESULTS OF THE VOTING

MK. LUKE RE-ELECTED MAYOR

POLL CLERKS' HEAVY TASK.

RESULTS FROM OTHER CENTRES

' Ifr was a. bad day for an so far as weather could make it bad, and - it was bad because it; was uncertain. ' Early m the day rain came, and rain threatened in even larger quantities; This upset, the plans of electors to some' • extent, and in the afternoon the wea- •: ther never quite settled.' In view of all the circumstances a poll of nearly. 19,000 votes recorded must be- regarded. aB :y ■ highly;satisfactory. The.work was done admirably at all the polling booths, and ■ so far as could be made out there was . : no. serious oongeßtion at . any of tie booths.Miioh was made of 'the fact ' that the electors would' have a very heavy task to. perform in . voting on so many but the .electors :found the .task a light one 'enough for the most part. Although 'electors had five . ...different coloured- papers thrust into , their hands- by tile poll clerks, they mostly got rid of. them. in/about;-four • v. or five minutes. .This was a great deal faster worK than most people had regarded as probable. ; -v- : : : In . the; getting out of the .fesults the. .'deputy-returning : officers;were espeditious.:' Although; the' booths closed only at 7 p.m. the Mayoral results were: out . shortly before eight .o'clock,: with the: exception of ;one. This last result . caused a delay of just about one .hour - ■■ longer. Tho first' return of the day came from a booth at which a woman was in charge, and .also, the'third return : came from another, booth controlled by ■ a woman. The. council results,' and the results for the other elections, were not available until morning, v

- Round the Booths. There was little to indicate the pro- . j gross of several'; important elections r; v noticeable in*the. streets of Wellington ... , yesterday. The infiuence of legislation >' for-some years pa6t has been ail in the ,-direction; of taking! the "colour" out ; t of an election, and rendering .it a serious duty rather than something to. base . abnormal excitement upon,.' and' the, ' net result is that though the burgesses . were asked to decide upon their Mayor . r ' «. for .the • next' two years and the mem-; ... bcre sof three of, the, most important : local bodies that concern civic life in ■ Wellington, there .was. very little out- : side. show. Doubtless there might have been burning in some.'breasts excitoment and perhaps some little anxiety, hut' if it did exist it was care- . - fully concealed from the knowledgo of the rude world, for there was none of the shouting and the tumult to bring : -. such- feelings to the surface as. existed , in other .days. .' , In the case of. most of the booths the sign in black "■ and . white, "Polling • Booth," ;and perhaps : a man standing by-with a roll, was the. only outward ' indication that votes coiild- there- be recorded on momentous issues. Outside the main booth at the Town Hall there were a knot of people throughout 1 the day, and there partisan .parties' -~f were allowed to rig up tables on, which ; to outspread the roUs, and so-help .in some degree the officials .within . 'by, telling people their roll numbers. Tho next step legislation" will take will :. doubtless be the prevention-of this, apparently innocent pastime-. In any' - case, the clerks within the booth have . to turn up the name and number of ... every- elector before the ballot-papers . are handed;, out. ' The: tables at the Town Hall entrance were in' the possession for the greater.. part of: the . day • by ladies, ana one did' not have 1 to observe .the situation long to. gather that rivalry between the opposing sides was strong. Here and tliere favours : were worn by! people, but few of the general public troubled to' acquaint themselves with what they represented, and possibly cared less. A few .'motor-■ oars dashed hither and thither feeding the. booths with voters from adistance, , and the candidates turned up wearing ■. the most ingratiating smiles,' seeming to convey to all and sundry, that afi was going as merry as a marriage bell. The Electors' Task. ' There _were a few growls at the number of issues put before the electors ; on tho one day, but the eoonomy effect- ' ed by having- them all.settled and done with -at the same time was recompensed as something in. favour, of the system.' As usual several hoary old voters found . that .their names .had; 'been.' omitted . from the roll, and . were greatly con-deemed.-at being thtis.-. disfranchised. One elector informed wie' Chief Returning Officer that he had Voted in every . : . election fbr thirty years, and could not imagine how his name had / been left off. ' What apparently made - the: case worse with him was that "the missus was still on and he had been struck off.". . It was very hard, but : the official, had to tell the. man that he could not vote. It seems in-credible-after-all-the warnings given : prior to the closing of the Tolls that people valuing the privilege should imagine that having voted before entitled them to vote again.- The only : thing they have to do is, to see that /they are on the.roll being prepared. If they neglect to do that they must expect disappointments. In the ■ tabulated results below the names of the successful candidates in Baoh case are set out in black type.

•PREVIOUS CONTESTS. ... Following are tie results .of the Mayoral elections in 1912. 191.3, and 1911:- ■; ; 1912. M'Laren . .....4,235 8ia5..... 2,634 \ Smith 1,907 .Wright 1,557 1913. . • Luke ....... 9,994 M'Lareo 9,486 1914. Luke 11,601 M'Laren 4,639 . ' Glover 4,337 Total Votes Recorded. The total number of valid votea recorded at the City Mayoral eleotions ' since 1905 are elown in the table below. There wera no oonteats in 1906 and' 1911:—

The following is. the complete list of those who have occupied the position of Mayor in Wellington since the Lirth of the City:— >1842 iiy Mr. Geo. Hunter 1843 .v v .. Mr. Wm v Guiton From .1844 to 1865 tlie Provincial Government; managed' the affairs of Wellington' City, and from 1865 to 1870 they were managed by a Town Board. 1870 to 1873 ... Mr. Joe Dransfield 1874 Mr. C. B. Borlase 187 : Mr. W. S. Moorhouse 1876-7 ............ Mr. Wm. Hutchison 1878-9 ............ Mr. Joe Dransfield 1879 (2 days only) Mr. Geo. Allen 1879 to 1881:... Mr. Wm. Hutchison. 1882 to 1885 ... Mr. Geo. Fisher 1.886 Mr. A. W. Brown 1887-8 ............ Mr. Samuel Brown •1889 ............... Mr. John Duthie--1890 ............... Hon'. C. J. Johnston . 1891 ............... Mr. A. W. Brown • 1892 to 189.4 .... Hon. P. H. D. Bell 1894-...;.' ..<Mr. A. de B. Brandon 1895 Mr. C. M. Luke 1896 ............... Mr. Geo. Fisher 1897 ............... Hon. P. H. D. Bell 1898-9 . Mr. J. R. Blair ' 1900 to 1904' ... Hon. J. G. W. Aitken 1905.t0 1908 ... Hon. T. W. Hislop' 1909 ................ Dr.'A. K. Newman ~. "1910-11 .......... Mr. T. M. Wilford 1912 ..'. ]jlr. David:M'Laren , 191.3-14 Mr. J. P. Luke ...

THE MAYORALTY MAJORITY. OF 3413 FOE ME. LTJKE. The figures for the' Mayoralty, are as follow:— Luke, John Pearoe 9896 ■ Fletcherj Robert 7483 . Chapman, .C. H. 1132 Majority for Luke 2413 The returns at the various booths are .ijhown in the .table below

WELLINGTON'S MAYORS THE COMPLETE LIST. ;

«na±»±i:— ' ' Valla Numner votes. on roll. . 1905 . 9,695 19,703 1907 1 8,621 21,162 1908 .w 14,816 28,682 . 1909 ., 13,406 30,146: 1910 11,515 31,878 1912 ......... 10,333 30,005 1913 19,480 34,179 . . 1914.... .20,379 40,400 1915 83,500

| o S -Wadestom 16 143. 90 Tiirakori Eoad Schoolroom.,. 5 150 160 Mrs. Kearney's Tearooms ... .' 7 69 - 67 Northland , 7 .74 73 Kulburn Oimrcliroom 6 176 Kelburn Tea Kiosk .1 22 148 Aro Street : 22 142 90 Brooklyn Baptist Church 42 217 239 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn 23 94 102 Island Ea.y 14 118 222 Maranui 16 '64 ,124 Kilbirnie : 26 181 237 Ilataitai „... 21 , 168 349 Roseneath ..15 44 92 Kent Terrace •... 75 538 . 754 B». Mark's 25 1 39 236 Tiotoria Hall 53 309 295 Newtown. Library 30 267 ?81 St. Thomas's Schoolroom 80 482 809 MiaBonic Hall, Adelaide Road 23 180 248 Alexandra Hall 67 357 438 St. Peter's Schoolroom ......... 50 273 325 Rechablt* Hall 58 336 1 298 Wharf Shed TJ 90 328 105 Tarnbnll's Auction Boom ... 23 282 498 Harcourt'B 21 287 , 548 Bethnne's 2!) 206 • 519 Sydney Street Schoolroom ... 77 629 - 711 Taranaki St.. Miraion Hall...: 33 172 110 Garage. Manners Street ...... 12 * 150 >127 Town Hall 174 1013 1354 Totals . 1132 7483, 9896