AWARUA POLLING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21548, 30 October 1944, Page 2

AWARUA POLLING

NATIONAL WIN majorityTncreased MARGIN OF 2101 VOTES (P.A.) INVERCARGILL, Oct. 30. After one of the most interesting and keenly-fought by-elections for many years the National Party retained the Awarua seat on Saturday by a big majority, the final figures, including the votes of the forces in New Zealand and overseas, were: Mr. G. R. Herron (Nat.) .. 4059 Mr. L. S. O’Sullivan (Lab.) 2558 Mr. R. J. Henderson (Real Democracy) . ■ ■ • 249 Majority for Mr. Herron 2101 Mr. Henderson lost his deposit. Mr. Herron had majorities at 4G of the 49 polling booths. The three exceptions were Bluff, Greenhilis (near Bluff) and Halfmoon Bay (Stewart Island). The poll was not a large one. A total of 7456 votes was cast, compared with a roll number of 10,649. About 100 absentee votes are yet to be counted. The forces votes showed a majority for Mr. Herron, the figures being: Mr. Herron, 44; Mr. O’Sullivan, 37; Mr.

j Henderson, 2. The figures for the 1938 election j were as follow: — ; Mr. J. Ilargest (Nat.) • • 5224 j Mr. J. A. Beck (Lab.) - . 4564 Majority for Mr Hargest 660 Career of Candidates Born at Pukerau 56 years ago, Mr. Herron has been identified for many I years with both the producing and marketing aspects of the dairy indus- , try. He was president of the herd- . testing group in Southland for 15 . years and for four years he was presi- . dent of the Dominion Herd-testing Association. The first herd-testing group ■ in the South Island was started by • Mr. Herron at Pukerau. As organiser • for the Southland provincial executive .; of the Farmers’ Union for three years i Mr. Herron achieved considerable ' success. For 17 years he was the ■ assessor on the Conciliation Council. • representing all cheese factory sup--1 pliers in the South Island. He served ‘ for 18 years on the committee of the Gore Agricultural and Pastoral Asso- ; ciation and he is a past president of ! the association. He was also a direc- ; tor of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association for 17 years and ‘ lie is now vice-president of the association. Mr. O’Sullivan was born in Taranaki in 1895. He is at present an assistant master at the Southland Boys’ High School. Most of Mr. O’Sullivan’s life has been spent in Southland and he has held teaching appointments at V/inton, Wyndham District High School, Drummond, and Roslyn Bush. He is an arts graduate of the University of New Zealand, and was also a W.E.A. lecturer for Southland for many years. Mr. O’Sullivan has also I held executive positions on the N.Z.E.I. and teachers’ organisations. I He wa sa Southland hockey represen- . i tative in 1929. He is married with ;' four children, one of whom was rel ! cently wounded while serving with 1 the Second N.Z.E.F. in Italy. : j The Labour Party tried through the ’ ! International Red Cross in Geneva to ' secure the consent of Sergeant J. D. Hinton, V.C., a prisoner of war in ; | Germany, to contest the seat, but ’ | though he had prcvioulsy expressed a ;! desire to enter politics, liis consent JI could not be obtained in time to en- ■ able his nomination to go forward.