THE ELECTIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 5, 5 December 1931, Page 7

THE ELECTIONS.

m - FLUCTUATING FORTUNES. WHAT THE VOTING SHOWS. ||SB|'A perusal of the individual returns tjyifr the election contest brings to attenKfflfcon a large number of cases of flucIfiffifuating fortunes. Seats which were iffield a few years ago on very large ..i-.Ujnajorities now return candidates on ;v¥fifVery bare margins; strongholds have •'• crumbled and a stage has been reach'lratlfid when the former simple forecasts 'itiof results have taken on a difficult asWfijfjpect. ■ As for instance, the Nelson seat: KmOn "Wednesday Mr H. Atmore, the Inffi®dependent, was returned by the small Mv margin of 78 votes. In his Liberal days Mr Atmore polled considerably B better than this, and in 1928 he acvt't tually got home bv the margin of H 2309. . „ , The Speaker, Sir Charles Statham, ®has declared his intention of fighting SBB‘‘with the gloves off” in his next cam.jfljpaign”; in the contest just closed he )®stood aloof from matters of contention MjHSikely to claim his attention later as l'®referee in the House, with the resiilt ImPthat his figures dropped from the 1928 AjaSjMnnt of 6022 to 6010 and his majority ■sj94hen of 1771 is now only 91. An outstanding vote was that ob®»aiued by Mr W. P. Endean in Par■l. He polled 6963 votes as against >2 in the 1920 by-election, and raisins then majority of 1622 to 4562. e Labour vote here remained pracfflßHSjacally the same. . ~ •; "•'.- An instance of “how hath the PS mighty fallen” is afforded in Grey ifffiynn where Mr- F. N. Bartram, who vf® It one time was Labour member for itps ihe constituency and as the official Vtjfe labour candidate in 1928 polled 5425 pra|Si>tes, this year obtained only 340. Mr tMjlßartram is no longer the official candisMpate, however; he offered his services Kf|ittiis year as an Independent Labourite. Mr V. H. Potter, another former Mffmernber, like Mr Bartram, lost his !iMsjdeposit this year. Mr Potter stood as Ip an Independent in Eden and got 321 ®j votes; in 1928 as the official Reform candidate he polled 3517. These are j§. classical instances of the value of the ?sߧlofficial party ticket. '■m In Waitemata. Mr A. Harris raised Iwithe official Reform-Coalition vote to ': ! -i| !! 6176 as against 4683 in 1928, and Mr iVijlp. M. Rushworth increased the Couni/l’Jlry Party’s majority in the Bay of from two in 1928 and 474 in by-election of 1929 to 1157 this

M‘i!aoP ar - . , •M fMr W. D. Lysnar’s former strong--1 j'llold, Gisborne, rejected him for a LaKburite. The Lysnar vote had been deWining steadily. Mg The honour of having the highest sfspiumber of votes polled by any candiMfffiate went to M/ VV. Nash (Hutt) who IfjSecured a total of 8641 and a majority !M>f 2728. j®s|i In Wellington Central, Mr P. iSfe'raser’s Labour total of 7353 in. 1928 j&jfell to 5925 this year, and his majority wfllikewise fell by over one thousand, ffi, Mr It. A. Wright put up a splendid 'pliperformance in Wellington Suburbs, Mjraising his total of 5748 in 1928 to 117195. « The Leader of the Labour Party, Mr MpH. E. Holland, dropped close on three Mtundred votes this year in Buller, Hfcompared with the number he polled Sin 1928, and Rev. C. Carr’s Labour jratvote of 5547 in 1928 for Timaru, fell Why over five hundred this year. A notable victory, of course, was W that of Mr P. Jones (Labour) over W Mr W. B. Taverner (Coalition-Union-ist), by a majority of 3515, in Dunedin | South. However, Mr Taverner’s major- | itv in 1928 was only 33. I Mr D. McDougall, in Mataurn, took | Kis 1928 majority, of 62 to 868 this vear, and Hon. A. Hamilton raised | his previous margin of 20 to 2597 in [ Wallace. ; An increase in the Labour vote for | the 80 seats and a drop in the aggre- | gate votes recorded for United and j Reform are revealed in an analysis I of the preliminary general figures, \ compared with similar returns for : 1928.

All candidates supporting the Coalition received 372,868 votes, while Labour nominees obtained 229,884. In 1928 the aggregate Reform vote was 254,745, and the United 219.745, Labour receiving 185,773. Independents polled 55,153 votes, as compared with 27,749 in 1928, and the Country Party 15.982, as against 11,478. The Coalition support is divided as follows: Coalition Reform, 163.388; Coalition United, 114.581; Coalition Independents, 22.894; Independent Coalition United. 9405; Independent Coalition Reform, 21,272; Coalition Liberal, 4199; Independent United, 11,964; Independent Reform, 17,492; Independent Liberal, 7673.

AUCKLAND EAST SEAT,

RESULT NOT CHALLENGED.

AUCKLAND, Dec. 4. Inquiries have failed to produce any substantial confirmation of the complaints concerning alleged irregularities in the Auckland East election, at •which the Labour candidate, Mr F. W. Schramm, was returned. No determination to pursue the matter has been shown by those concerned. . Both Mr H. P. Burton, who contested the seat as an Independent Reformer, and Dr. W. H. Horton, who stood as an Independent United candidate, disclaim any intention of challenging the result. ALLEGED PLURAL VOTING. police to Investigate. AUCKLAND, Dec. 4. Several cases of suspected _ plural voting have been revealed during the scrutiny of the electoral rolls in certain Auckland constituencies. In at least two cases- returning officers have asked the police to institute inquiries.

In other cases members of the electoral staff are themselves asking voters for an explanation.

NELSON SEAT.

MR ATMORE’S LEAD INCREASED

Per Press Association. NELSON, Dec. 5. The counting of 132 postal votes has increased Mr H. Atmore’s lead over Mr Everett to 84. There are still 403 absentee and 15 seamen's votes uncounted.