THE COMING ELECTIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 208, 1 August 1935, Page 6

THE COMING ELECTIONS.

DOMINION’S VOTING STRENGTH. LARGE PROPORTION OF FEMALES (By Telegraph.—Special to Standard.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 1. ‘ The main electoral rolls for the 76 European constituencies have closed, but all New Zealanders over the age of 21 whose names are not included have the chance of getting the vote by registering for inclusion in the supplementary rolls, now in course of compilation. With a total population exceeding one and a-half millions, it seemed probable that the coming general elections would see an aggregation of electors totalling a million, but close examination of official figures suggests that although there will be great activity in getting on the rolls during the next few months, this figure will not be reached. It is four years since there was an election, and when this occurred, in 1931, the total voting strength in the European electorates was 876.731. The Chief Electoral Officer’s computation of the registered voters on May 30 last showed a total of 880,481 —a very small advance on the previous figures. During the interval between elections there have been 128,473 additional registrations, but against this can be placed the removals by death, transfer, and other causes, totalling 124,723. There is a good deal of moving about on the part of New Zealanders, for in the four years over 71,000 changes of address were recorded by electoral officers. The woman voter is becoming almost ns important numerically as the male. For many years, females have been in the majority on the electoral rolls of a number of densely populated areas, particularly in the South Island. In the 1931 general election the proportion of votes cast was 84.51 by men, and 81.99 bv women. The latest official indications of proportions of the sexes among prospective voters in the Dominion are given in the totals of population over 21, excluding Maoris: Males, 477,955; females, 462,161; total, 940,116. The final figure represents tho absolute maximum which could be reached by the aggregate of the country’s electoral rolls.