A BY-ELECTION

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 130, 5 June 1933, Page 10

A BY-ELECTION

AT END OF MONTH

CITY COUNCIL VACANCY

TWO- CANDIDATES '?

'As a result of the death of Mr. Frank Meadowcroft, there is a vacancy on the City Council, and it appears almost certain that a by-election will bo held. If this i 3 so, nominations will close at noon on June 17 and the election will be held on June 29. A suggestion has. been mado that the two bodies most likely to be concerned, the Civic League-Eatepayers' Association organisation and the Labour Keprescntation Committee, should agree that the vacancy should be filled by Mr. E. D. Macalister, who was sixteenth in the list of candidates when the election count was made last month, but it does not seem at all likely that'such agreement will be reached. Many people are under the impression that in the event of a vacancy occurring within a short time after an election the highest of the unsuccessful candidates may fill the place without further voting, but this is not so. All that the Act provides is that in. the event of a vacancy occurring within six months of the date of an approaching election the local body' may decide whether a poll should be held, that is, it may decide that the vacancy should not be filled until the next regular election. That position arose in 1925 when MY. R. A. Wright, M.P., was elevated to Cabinet Tank and decided that the demands likely to be made upon him in fulfilling that office would not allow him to give adequate service to the city as well. Actually the vacancy did not officially occur, as Mr. Wright, during the few months left of that council term, was granted leave of absence. , BY-ELECTIONS IN THE PAST. Council -by-elections are by no means new to Wellington. Irt- 1926 Mr. A. L. Monteith was appointed a. member of the Arbitration Court and resigned his seat aa a councillor. Messrs. J. Glover and W. J. Gaudin contested the seat, Mr. Glover being successful. In the following year Mr. J. Caughley resigned his seat at. the council table, fairly soon aiter the election; as. he had been appointed Director of Education in the Islands. tin that occasion the candidates were Mr. C. D. Morpeth and Mr. Glover, Mr. Morpeth being successful. In an earlier by-election, 1920, Mr. Gaudin defeated Mr. T. Brindle. It is, of course, still possible that an agreement may be reached whereby Mr. Macalister will be returned unopposed, on the contention that as the late Mr. Meadowcroft was not a Labour candidate his seat should be filled by a non-Labour councillor, but the contention loses a little of its authority in view iof the fact that Mr. Meadowcroft was an independent candidate this year. It was contended by the Labour Representation Committee when Mr. Monteith resigned that his seat should be filled, without an election, by another Labour councillor, but that was not agreed to. VACANCIES ON HOSPITAX BOARD. The general idea that the highest of the unsuccessful candidates moves up to a seat at the, council table no doubt arises from the position in the case of the Hospital Board, where this is, as a. rule, the procedure. Strictly, the position is that in the event of a vacancy on the Hospital Board the local authority (the City Council) has the right, on being notified by the board, to fill the vacancy, and in practice thehighest of the unsuccessful candidates is appointed. Thus when the E«v. H. van Staveren died, in. 1930, after long service on the Hospital Board, the City Council appointed Mr. Walter Cole to the board, and later, when Mr. Isaac van Staveren resigned on account of ill-health, Mr. J. H. Helliwell, again the highest of the unsuccessful candidates at the previous election was appointed to the board. Until the question.of whether a,byelection iis to be held is decided,..it is unwise to speculate as to, probable candidates, but probably fairly definite' plans are already made.