AUCKLAND SEATS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 126, 23 November 1935, Page 12

AUCKLAND SEATS

NEXT WEEK'S POLL

PROSPECTS DISCUSSED

LABOUR'S HOPES

\ (Special to the "Evening Post.")' AUCKLAND, This Day. : Roughly speaking, the Auckland 1 Province has one-third of the seats in ; the House of Representatives, arid for i the General Election the province is t providing approximately one-third of l r the total number of candidates for the .76 European seats. In only one of the [24 seats in the province will there be a , straight-out contest between two cank didates. That is for the Gisborne elec- \ torate, and,, strangely enough, neither i candidate is a supporter of the Nas tional Government Party. The sitting : member is Mr. D. W. Coleman, who , represents the Labour Party, his op- : ponent being Mr. W. D. Lysnar, who , has been prominent for years in the district both in respect of local and ; general politics. Mr. Lysnar has repre- . sented the constituency on former i occasions, and was only defeated by the narrow margin of 312 votes at the last election. Although chances favour the sitting member, there is always the ' possibility of Labour being again ; second on this occasion. ; A few months ago it looked as if there would be a straight-out fight in Roskill between a National Government candidate and Labour, and as Labour gained the seat on a minority vote the odds were in favour of a Government victory. All that has changed. First one and then another ventured into the electorate, and although one candidate retired the field has too many left in for there to be any chance of a Government success, five candidates having been nominated. The anti-Labour vote is well split, and any chances that Mr. Fleming had when there was a clear field against the sitting member has vanished and the seat seems definitely one for the Labour Party. FOUR-CORNERED CONTESTS. ! Eleven provincial seats are being contested by four candidates. Starting , from the far north and coming down ; geographically they are as follows:— ; Bay of Islands, Marsden, Parnell, Eden, , Grey Lynn, Auckland East, Waitemata, Raglan, Waikato, Tauranga, and Roto- ; rua. Bay of Islands presents no diffi- \ culties to the sitting member, Mr. , Rushworth, and he should have an easy victory. Marsden is a problem, but ,as the situation there is a changing ; one a prediction of the result would be premature before next week. In Parnell the whips are out, and with the anti-Labour vote split it is difficult just yet to see the result. The Liberal does not count, but Sir Alexander . Herdman's supporters are numerous and it is not clear at the moment who will gain the greatest number of votes opposed to Labour. If this vote is equally divided there is a chance of a Labour victory. Auckland Suburbs, Auckland West, Auckland East, Grey Lynn, and Manukau will return the sitting Labour members, and there is a likelihood of Labour being victorious in Eden and Waitemata. Mr. Harris has lost a good deal of his former Waitemata support, while Mr. Stallworthy, the sitting member for Eden, is not having it all his own way on this occasion. There are definite indications that he has lost much of his former popularity. ■ There are many who predict the fall of Labour in Auckland Central, but while the young fighting Democrat, Mr. Dodd, is gaining ground daily he would probably require a couple of weeks more to bring off a victory. He will cut into Mr. Parry's majority of last election, however, and anything may happen in the next few days to turn more votes away from the Labour candidate, who has lost much •of his former popularity with the electorate. FIGHTING HARD. Although Franklin and Hauraki are regarded as Government victories both the Masseys are fighting hard. Mr. A. C. A. Sexton, an Independent Country Party candidate, has been making great headway in Franklin and his social credit theories have been taken seriously by sections of the electorate. Mr. W. W. Massey, the sitting member for Hauraki, is also having his time fully occupied. The Labour candidate, Mr. C. R. Petrie, is pressing him hard everywhere. ' While Mr. Samuel's platform ability is standing him in good stead in Thames, the Labour Party has also an experienced campaigner and able platform speaker in Mr. J. Thorn, and it is rather early yet to say with any degree of accuracy who has the better chance. On the other hand Mr. Lee Martin (Labour) appears to be the favourite for Raglan, where the defeat of the sitting member, Mr. D. S. Reid, is predicted even in circles that support the Government party. With a triangular fight for Hamilton, it is difficult to say how the contestants will finish, although the chances o£ the sitting member, Sir Alexander Young, are rosier than . some predict. With Mr. Caro, the Democrat, however, cutting into his vote there is a possibility of Mr. C. ;A. Barrell, the Labour nominee, slipping in. He is a good type of candidate and the electorate has quite a ' large radical vote within its bound- ' aries. If the sitting Government member i for Waikato, Mr. F. Lye, is defeated, it ' will be by a Democrat in the person of Dr. Annett, an agriculturist who 1 has a following that is daily gaining : strength. This four-cornered contest • has attracted a good type of candidate. 1 including a Rhodes Scholar as well as a Doctor of Agriculture. TAURANGA FIELD. 1 Five candidates are in the field for Tauranga. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Macmillan, is not as popular ■as he was and he' may have difficulty Ito get in front on polling day. He may be beaten by either the Labour candidate, Mr. Burnett, or the Demo- ; crat, Mr. McFarlane, but his chances , are probably the best of the five. Waitomo, so far, looks safe for the ! Government in the sitting member, Mr. ; Broadfoot; but Roto*ua is so split up by contending factions that it looks as ■if the Labour candidate, Mr. Moncur, will top the poll on a minority vote. Mr. D,oidge has strong committees working for him, but so div'ded is the , anti-Labour vote that his chances are not strong. The sitting member is Mr. Clinkard, who had a majority of ;57 at the last election in a four-cor-nered fight. With the retirement of Mr. K. S. Williams from the Bay of Plenty electorate it is hard to predict the result of the poll as the constituency is a t most scattered one. The National Govl ernment candidate was well in favour : some weeks ago but has slipped back |in recent times. Mr. Williams's vote . was largely personal and it is not anticipated that it will all go to Mr. . Merry. The Labour candidate, Mr. Hultquist, h.as campaigned in the dis-

trict for about syc months; and there is also a Democrat in the person of Mr. H. L. Harker.