PROGRESS OF POLL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 18086, 1 May 1919, Page 7

PROGRESS OF POLL.

EXPECTATIONS FALSIFIED. CONSTITUTION OF NEW COUNCIL. For some unexplained reason there was a general feeling in the city yesterday that the poll would be light, and this was considered likely to give the Labour candidate a Bporting chance, especially as there was some slight prospect that he would carry a number of prohibition votes. These expectations were falsified, the Labour candidate .was never a serious factor in the situation, except as a possible vote-splitter. The polling proceeded smoothly, and Mr A. Freeman, who supervised it, was able to say at tho end of the day that there had been no hitch- The Citizens’ Association had worked hard to secure the return ol Mr Dougall, and tho Port Christchurch League had been equally energetio in support of its candidate- The Laboui candidate had been late in the 'field and had done little campaigning, ant it was significant that whereas the best Linwood Labour man polled 1617 votes Mr M’Combs got merely 485. votes ii that ward. Tho same inexplicable at titude towards the mayoral Labou candidate was to bo noted in Syden ham, where he received only 818 votes as against 1977 by Councillor Burgoynr In tne central ward Mr M’Combs got only 535 votes, as against Mr Howard’s total of 1535. In St Albans, again, Mrs Wells got 1021 votes and Mr M’Combs only 485. On tho. other hand tho polling for Dt Thacker indicated at least a willingness to give the Port Christchurch scheme a fair trial fpr he headed the poll for the Harbour Board. How far the impending visit of Lord Jellicoe and the Prince of Wales affected the voting it is hard to say. but there were many other factors in the production of the final, resultThe voting for councillors indicated that the Citizens’ Association was strongly entrenched 'in the central ward and St Albans, where the result of the election was never in doubt, but in Sydenham and Linwood the official Labour candidates scored heavily. The councillors who, like Mr. Henry Holland (the Mayor), did not seek reelection were Messrs H. G. Ell, M.P., A-. M- Loasby, A. S- Taylor, P. R. Climie and J. R- Hayward. The old councillors who lost their seats yesterday were Mrs Ada Wells and Councillor E. J. Howard. The new council is made up as follows: Dr Thacker, M.P. (Mayor). Councillor O. P. Agar. Councillor E. H. AndrewsCouncillor H. T. Armstrong. • Councillor J. W. Beanland (re-elect-ed). Councillor F, Burgoyno (re-elected), - Councillor J. A, Flesber (re-elected). Councillor O. S- Harper. Councillor H. F. Herbert (re-elected). Councillor H. Hunter. Councillor J. O. Jameson. Councillor E- E. Langley. Councillor M’Kollar (re-elected). Councillor W. Nicholls (re-elected).

Councillor E. Peek (re-elected). Councillor D. G. Sullivan (re-elected). Councillor A. "Williams (re-elected).

AWAITING THE RESULT.

A VERY CLOSE CONTESTTho Provincial Council Chamber, as usual, was tho receiving centro for the telephoned results from all the city and suburban booths. Mr H. It. Smith (town clerk), Mr A. Freeman, the returning officer, and Mr J. Novillo undertook the work of receiving and sending out tho returns, and everything worked smoothlyThe first return came from Batty’s Store at 7.15, giving Thacker an unexpectedly big majority, substantially greater than the total cast for his twio opponents. The next result from Fitzgerald Avenue was much closer, reading 22-J-18—23, but the third, from tho pumping station, gave Thacker a substantial actual majority, 29—34 87. St Andrew’s Schoolroom gave Dougall his first majority of four, and Clare Road gave him a bit of a lift, but the Selwyn Street Schoolroom gave a swing of tlio pendulum. for Thacker, j Then came No. 1 Provincial Council Chamber, an overwhelming vote for Dougall of 383 to his two opponents’ 1 aggregate of 154. At this booth M’Combs got 18, and he fared little bettor at No- 2 Provincial, where ho had 33. Thacker 146, and Dougall 283. These brought the total at 7.30 to

It was evident that M’Oombs was a certain loser, and the crowd settled down to a close contest between Dougall and Thacker. The Art Gallery gave Dougall nearly a two to one majority over Thacker, but Leyden Street swung the other way. The barometer was very jumpy at this stage. Dougall had his head well in, front, but Palsgrave Street gave Thacker a lift of 78 and Shakespeare Road 82, leaving Dougall with only 127 of a lead. Another 80 to Thacker at Iflnwoad Avenue brought the rum. .son* akamfc nsok ft»d Sydesp™

ham Publio Library swamped Dougall’s majority, giving Thacker 219 to Dongall’s 183. Minor results kept Thacker m the lead, and then came Rngby Street, a surprisingly large total:—

This put Dougall into the lead by 265 votes. Once more “the doctor” made his run, culminating in a majority of 9(5 at the Salvation Army Barracks, Linwood, and ho was now within a hundred of his opponent, but Innes’s Store gave Dougall 30, and the progress report sent out to the board read:—■

Once more tho Salvation Army Hall, this time at Sydenham, came solidly for Thacker with a majority of 74, ana Dover Street added 32, reducing Dougall’s lead to just 40. Then came the Hibernian Hall, with a score of 172 for Thacker, giving him a lead of 182, >ut Opawa reduced this by 45. At this : tago 'there were only nine returns to :ome, four of them in Sydenham, which tad gone fairly solidly for Thacker so 'ar, and four in St Albans, which had •avoured Dougall. A more even congest it would have been hard to imagine •nd oven the officials became jumpy. Waltham gave Thacker a lift of 115, •nd the Sydenham Football Club room rave him another lift of 146. Dean 'treat, gave Dougall 16, and Brown’s ■nd Innes Road 61, but Madras and \berdeen Streets gave Thacker 36, and he was leading by 360. At Dickens street, Sydenham, Dougall was 4 head, and at Randall Street two ahead. This left him 304 behind, with only tho Clissold Street. return to come. This return did not arrive until 9.55. It gave Dougall 165, M’Combs 15, and Thacker 62. The result was a big lift for Dougall, and Dr Thacker ran out a narrow winner. The final figures were:—

THE MAYORALTY.

HOW THE CANDIDATES POLLED. The following table shows the votes recorded at the various booths for the three candidates:— CENTRAL WARD.

UNWOOD WA3ID. Woodham Road and Rollos-

ST ALBANS WARD.

SYDENHAM WARD.

Wn, * wW. vs***-

Dougall . . 1396 M’Combs * • 388 Thacker . . 1075

Dougall , B39 M’Gombs , , 69 Thacker . . 207

J>ougall ■ • . 4679 M’Comba . 1704 Thacker , . 4433

Thacker, H T. J. . . 5948 Dougall, J," J. . 6747 M’Combs, J. , . 2306

Polling Booth. *3 (JO 3 o a JS a £ £ § A EH Provincial Council, No. 1 . SS3 18 136 Provincial Counoil, No. 2 083 33 145 Art Gallery 1C1 40 88 Madras and Aberdoon Sts.. 53 13 89 Foresters’ Hall . . . 190 103 233 Caledonian Hall . 22G 39 151 St Michael’s Schoolroom Oddfellows’ Hall, St Asaph 231 66 176 Street .... 44 15 55 St John's, Madras Street . 118 39 117 Hibernian Hall Methodist School, FitzgerTO 83 242 ald Avenue . 23 18 23 Canterbury Boat House . Methodist School, Stnnmore 61 10 43 Road .... 107 57 123 Oddfellows’ Hall, Montreal Street N. . . . 84 17 86 St Andrews’ Schoolroom 78 28 74 Ward totals 2114 635 1781

ton Street . . ' . 35 17 S3 Xdnwood Sohool, Woodhnm Road .... 26 23 67 Unwood Avenno and Wo tcoster Street 31 65 171 Oddfellows’ HalL Bolleston Street .... 122 58 98 Linwood Publlo Library . 235 113 312 Salvation Barracks, ITitrgcraid Avenuo 63 79 164 Primping Station 39 84 87 Social Hall, Leyden Street 109 60 165 Charles and Grafton Sts. . 41 36 120 Ward totals 808 485 1205

CHssold 6 treat 165 15 62 Rugby Street . . 550 69 SOT Brown’s and Innas Ronds 112 12 51 Salvation Amy Hall, Cranford Stroet . TO 61 103 Dover Street . TO 45 102 Clare Road . 93 IT 75 Innes’s Store, Caledonian Road .... 228 62 194 Church Sohool, Madras St. North .... 154 54 14B Warrington and Flock ton Streets . . . 106 35 185 Batty's Store, Hill’s Rond , 67 27 68 Randall St, N. Riohmond 38 32 86 Barbadoes and Dean Streets 196 41 180 — — —- Ward totals 1838 468 1384

Oddfellows’ Hall, Diokens Street .... es 42 GE Moth. School, Selwyn St. . 118 117 165 Salv. Army, Battersea St. 81 115 155 Syd. F.G. Rooms 165 149 311 Syd. Publio Library . 183 110 219 Colombo and Tennyson Sts. ' 132 91* 163 St Martins ■ • • 26 19 29 Library, Waltham . . 58 73 173 Waltham Hall . • 76 66 162 Falsgrave S trout . . 88 27 116 Opawa . ► * • 65 9 20 j. ■ a - ■ i — 1 Ward total* . « Ml 818 1578 Cbrand total* , 6747 2300 6948