GENERAL ELECTION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXI, Issue 304, 8 December 1931, Page 8

GENERAL ELECTION

RESULTS OF OFFICIAL RECOUNTS NO CHANGES IN SEATS. THE NAPIEB ELECTORATE. The official recount of the votes polled at the general election for the Napier seat has been completed and reveals that the majority for the successful candidate, Mr W. E. Barnard, is 1454, which is 31 less than the previously announced majority of 1485. Details of the polling are:— Votes Barnard »• «• »• 5853 Butler ...... 4429 Brown •« »• ». 36 Informal M •• •» 45 Total m • > 10,393 The absentee, postal and seamen’s votes, which are included in the above total, were distributed as follow:— Barnard M .. •• 325 Butler •• «« „ 319 Brown ». .. 12 Informal •«««•• 8 Total .. »« 664 The work of the Returning Officer, Mr G. G. Chisholm, and his assistants has included not only the recount of the ordinary voting papers, but the counting of the postal, absentee and seamen’s votes and the scrutiny of the rolls. They have been engaged on this work since the day following the election and they completed their work last night Other electorates’ final counts are announced by Press Association as under:— MID-CANTERBUBY. J. Connolly (Lib.) .. 4437 •Hon. D. Jones (C. 8. 4301 H. Hunter (Lab.) «.. 310 R. W. Wightman (L) ». 258 Informal .. ... .. .. 67 Majority for Connolly 136 Of the absentee and postal votes, 282 went to Mr Connolly and 251 to Mr Jones. GISBORNE. D. W. Coleman (L.) .. .. 4436 •W. D. Lysnar (I.) .. .. 4119 H. D. de Lautour (C. 8. .. 1310 Majority for Coleman m 317 OAMABU. •J. A. Macpherson (C.U.) 3992 J. C. Kirkness (R.) .. 2946 P. Malthas (L.) .. ». .. 2688 Majority for Macpherson 1046 DUNEDIN CENTRAL. PROSPECTS OF RECOUNT. Dunedin, Dec. 7. Hope is running fairly strong among Labour supporters that Sir Charles Statham will be displaced by Mr. F. Neilson when the outstanding votes cast in Dunedin Central are counted, and even the least hopeful consider that Mr. Neilson still has a fighting chance of being returned. The possibility of an attempt being made to upset the election is much discussed, but it would probably be found that at a fresh election the vote for Sir Charles Statham would be larger than that recorded last Wednesday. If the appeal eventuates, and a byelection is ordered, it will be the second by-election which Sir Charles has fought during his political career. At the 1914 election Sir Charles (then Mr) Statham was beaten by eight votes by Mr. J. W. Munro (Liberal-Labour), although on the night of the poll Mr. Munro’s majority was only one. Sir Charles made an application for a magisterial recount, which revealed that an official at the Caversham booth had blundered when handing out ballot papers, and 118 votes were declared to be informal on the grounds that the ballot had not been a secret one. On the recount Sir Charles was elected by 12 votes. Owing to the irregularities and the likelihood of a further appeal by Mr. Munro, Sir Charles resigned his seat, and the by-election, which aroused the greatest interest, was held. During a sharp campaign Mr. Munro was supported by Sir Joseph Ward, Leader of the Liberal-Labour Party, but Mr. Munro was defeated by the narrow margin of 18 votes on polling night. The deficit was increased to 97 on the recount.