WELLINGTON MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 102, 30 April 1921, Page 6

WELLINGTON MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

SUMMARY OF THE POSITION

(Contributed by the N.Z. Welfare

League.)

A candid review of the elections just held indicates that the party of which Mr. P. Eraser, M.P., is chairman has fared badly in Wellington. It has lost, one seat on the Hospital Board, one on the Harbour Board, and two on the City Council. Mr. Hi«key has taken credit for polling the largest vote ever recorded for a Labour Mayoral candidate. That is not correct. In 1919, with 3235 less votes polled in the Mayoral contest, Mr. J. Read polled just 670 fewer than has been cast for his party's nominee this time. In proportion to the • total votes cast, Mr. Bead polled more than Mr. Hickey has done.

On referring back w« find that Mr. D. M'Larai, standing a* a Labour candi-i date for re-election to tihe Mayoralty in 1913, polled 9486 votes. The old Labour Party (which was not of the Red cast) commenced with, one representative in the City Council and went up to three, Messrs. M'Laren, HindmaTsh, and Tregear. The present Labour Party (properly a Revolutionary Party) has come down from four seats to two.

As the great majority of the voters are / working men and women, the results indicate that Labour is in revolt against the present extremist policy; eeeang that after eight years' agitation,- on a large scale,. the party is going back in the people's estimation.