The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES.” GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1946. CLOSE VOTING FOR RAGLAN SEAT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21963, 6 March 1946, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES.” GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1946. CLOSE VOTING FOR RAGLAN SEAT

''jPILE adherents of each political party contesting the Raglan by-eieetion were confident of success; on the figures —nearly final —published to-day the general air of optimism seems to have been justified. The voting so far has been close and until well up towards the last official announcement there could be no absolute certainty as to the ultimate leadership in the electoral race. Nevertheless, the National Party’s candidate, Mr. 11. Johnstone, headed his opponent over the greater part of the course and only lost ground seriously when bluntly, as was expected, recorded virtually a bloc vote for Labour’s choice, Mr. A. C. Baxter. Tn view of the general trend of the polling, Mr. Johnstone’s margin of 194. with 530 absentee votes, plus an unknown number still to come from servicemen in camps within the electorate, appears safe enough; yet most people will be disposed to wait until every vote has been counted before rounding off the contest with definite conclusions. .Tn the meantime the candidates, both oJ. whom have been hailed as worthy exponents of I heir respective political creeds, have contented themselves with an exchange of congratulations on the clean manner in which the campaign was fought. Apart from the much 100 vocal, partisanship shown by lluntly audiences, there has been little to disturb the countryside. And it is certain that Mr. Baxter himself had nothing to do with the unwarranted breach of the principles of fair play shown at bluntly when the loader of 1 he Opposition. Mr. Holland, addressed the electors there. Can any clear-cut conclusions he read into the figures made available? As in other by-elections held since the last general poll was taken, there lias been a swing away from Labour, obviously due to the further disfavour in which the Government finds itself because of its continuing ventures into the realm of socialisation. But in the case of Raglan, a semi-rural electorate, the change has not been so marked as to offer any certainty of a comprehensive National Party victory at the end of the year. Had the Electoral Boundaries Act not been forced through the House of Representatives, the Labour Party would have bad every reason to be perturbed by the result, for in at least half-a-dozen electorates in 1943 it won only by a margin which would very likely have been more than wiped ovt in 1946 as a result of the changing attitude of the people. Until the decisions of the Boundaries Commission are published it will be impossible to forecast, even approximately, what the state of the parties will be next year. Raglan has experienced a by-election crammed with the usual political fervour but devoid of real sensationalism. surprising, however, is the fact that, out of a total roll of 10,4 ii, only 9596 people recorded their votes. In 1943 the total vote was 10,126 out of a smaller roll. Possibly there has been a suggestion of': “What does it matter, anyway? The general election is around the corner.”