HUTT BY-ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 47, 19 November 1929, Page 12

HUTT BY-ELECTION

THE DATE FIXED ELECTORAL MACHINERY MOVING INCREASE IN ENROLMENTS Wednesday, December 18, has been fixed as the date for the Hutt by-election. Nominations will close on December 2. Yesterday the High Commissionerelect (Hon. T. M. Wilford) tendered to the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Hon. Sir Charles Statham) his resignation as member for Hutt, and this will be gazetted on Thursday next. Mr. Wilford will, however, retain the portfolios of Defence and Justice until December 7, when he will leave for England to take up his new duties. ’ J Already the machinery of the Chief Electoral Office is in operation for the by-election. A special supplementary roll is being compiled, and this will close at 6 p.m. on Monday next, after the issue of the writ. It will be made available for public information a few days later. Persons qualified to vote by twelve months’ residence in the Dominion and three months’ residence in the district should make immediate application to have their names included in the supplementary roll; electors of the district who were on the roll and voted at the general election in November last have no need to make fresh application for registration. Mr. F. B. Jameson has been appointed returning officer for the contest, and the list of polling places, which is now being prepared, will be gazetted next week. Greater Voting Strength. The number of registered electors for the Hutt at the last general election was 14,805, of whom 13,549 exercised the franchise. Present indications are that the voting strength for the by-election will be greater than was the case in November. Between the general election and October 31 last, 717 new applications for registration were recorded, 583 removals were effected, and 668 changes of address within the electorates were notified. As at October 31 the voting strength was 15,032, as against the 14,898 for the general election. The total will be 1 increased by the additional registrations that are coming to hand.

Absentee and Postal Voting. The absentee voting system at the by-election will be the same as was in operation for the general election, except that absentee voters will record their votes at post offices. Electors who will be absent from the district on election day and who wish to vote must apply to a postmaster, who will be supplied with the necessary forms. It is announced by the Electoral Office that those electors who will be in Wellington on December 18 and will not be returning to their homes before the poll closes at 7 p.m., will be treated as absentee voters, and allowed to vote before any postmaster in Wellington. The postal voting system is available to those who,'on polling day, will be absent from New Zealand, who will not be within five miles of a booth during polling hours, or will be travelling under conditions precluding attendance; who are prevented by age or illness, including maternity, from attending; or who are connected with lighthouse-keeping work. Postal vote certificates and postal ballot papers will be available after Monday next. For the Hutt electorates, December IS will be a statutory half-holiday from noon, and all hotels in the dis-, trict will close from that hour. Mr. Nash’s Candidature. A meeting of friends and supporters of Mr. W. Nash, the Labour candidate, will be held in the Labour Hall, Petone, at 8 to-night. Another meeting will be held in Randwick School on Thursday night at 8 o’clock, and a third one has been arranged for the Oddfellows’ Hall, Lower Hutt, next Monday night, also at 8 o’clock. Mr. Nash will speak at all of these meetings. Mr. Nash’s principal committee room has been opened at 183 Jackson Street, Petone. The telephone number is 46-220.