HAURAKI BY-ELECTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2763, 17 August 1931, Page 4

HAURAKI BY-ELECTION.

ALLAN’S LOSS OF DEPOSIT., UNPRECEDENTED POSITION. Chaffing refence to the result of the • Hauraki by-election was made in the New Zealand House of Representatives by Mr A. Harris (Reform, Waitemata). He twitted the Government with having used all its forces in an endeavour to persuade the elect- . ors to vote for the United Party, with . the result that Mi’ Allan had lost his deposit. Mr Harris said that all the leaders of the party had concentrated on the . electorate, with the addition of “Priv- ■ ate” Munns in charge of the sub- ’’ sidiary forces. .The United Party had had the advantage of having a very estimable rrtan, well-known through the district as its standard-bearer, a. man who at the last general 'election . had polled approximately 3,000 votes. In spite of all that Mr Allan had. only succeeded in polling under 1,000- votes, and he had lost his deposit. Surely, , ; the result of the by-election had shown that the Government was not in favour with the people of New Zealand. He had always been led to believe that by-elections were barometers of public feeling. A Government member: What about Waipav'a? Mr Harris: That happened a long time ago. Things have changed since ■ then. I think I am right in saying that the loss of the deposit by a Government candidate is; unprecedented in the history of New Zealand. Mr F Langstone (Labour, Waimarino) pointed out that 1,500 electors in Hauraki had failed to vote, and it was very difficult to say how their votes would have gone.. He ventured to say that by the time the general election came round those 1,500 people would vote for Mr Petrie, who carried the Labour Party’s banner. .(Reform laughter).