POSITION OF POLLING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17347, 19 December 1919, Page 10

POSITION OF POLLING.

VOTES .FftOjr* ELSEWHERE. ■ ? ,TEE OFFICIAL OOTJN^i '■'' ' SCRUTINEERS START v TO-DAY. r,Several factors have yet to be. reckoned with in v the polling throughout the Dominion, which may materially affect the results so far announced, especially, in relation "to the licensing poll. For in- . stance, a larger number than usual of persons who were to be out of their elecf torates on polling day had. provided them- ? selves with absent voters', permits. All , votes so recorded have to come by post 1 to the returning offiwrs, and will be 1 dealt with in the official counts. Then " there' are the seamen's votes on seamen's rights, which' are in a- similar position to those of ■ the absentees. Next come the , votes of soldiers absent from home, and the votes of soldiers' not registered on any roll, and the votes on declaration, Under these three categories the votingpapers were all placed in sealed envelopes on the polling-day, .. not r to be opened until the official count. In most cases 'even the number of such papers was not noted prior to the sealing, hence the total under these. headings cannot be tainedThe official scrutinies of the rolls for j the purpose t of detecting possible instances of double-voting will, in most j electorates, be made • to-day. In Auckland Central the < scrutiny is already in . progress, and in each case it will probably occupy, a couple of days. Immediately ) upon the completion of the scrutiny the ) ballot-boxes will be reopened and the ) official count begun, after which the. ) sealed packets relating to 'absent, voters,' ) seamen, soldiers, and votes on declaration } % will be taken into account. It will be - well into next week before the final re- ) suits of the polling will be ascertained. In many cases the number of voting papers under the, various headings . enumerated can only be approximately estimated, but the figures about to be * given may be taken as substantially » correct. In all cases there is yet no record of the number of declaration votes. In Auckland Central there were 161 absentee voters, 25 soldiers' votes and 133 seamen's votes recorded. The Auckland West office issued. 256 absent voters' permits and 190 seamen's rights. For Auckland East there, are known to be 320 absentee and soldiers' votes and 60 by seamen. The absentee votes for the Parnell electorate, number 318, add 39 seamen's rights were issued. . ' In Grey Lynn 233 absentee votes, 29 absentee soldiers' votes, and 61 seamen's votes have yet to.be received. For Sofikill there were 315 absentee votes and 45 seamen's votes. Eden electors to the number of 93 voted elsewhere on permit, besides 16 soldiers belonging to the district. There were no seamen voters from Eden. In the Manukau electorate 225 absent voters' permits were issued. SIB J. ALLEN'S COMMENTS. "SOMEWHAT UNEXPECTED." IMPORTANT WORK AHEAD. [Br TELEGRAPHOWN COEBESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHURCH, Thursday. The Minister for Defence. Sir James Allen, travelled up from Milton .to-day and went on to Wellington by the ferry steamer. In an interview. Sir James said that such a large majority for the Government -was somewhat unexpected, and he could only look on the result as very satisfactory. The result of the election indicated that the people of New Zealand realised that there was need for a strong and stable Government to carry. On the affairs of the country in the present stage of restoration after the war when there must necessarily be stress. The next three or four years would be the most important in th? history of this young country. Sir James Allen said he sincerely hoped that all parties would respect the verdict of the people so fairly expressed so that the Government would not be hampered in doing all that was best for the Dominion. The defeat of .Sir Joseph Ward for a seat in Parliament was mentioned. Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Ward both entered Parliament about 30 years ago. "We have most of the time played vis-a-vis, but I have no feeling against him," remarked Sir James. i Sir James expressed his pleasure at the change of party feeling in Canterbury as expressed at the elections. "It is,' • he said, "most gratifying, considering that- the Reform leaders had no opportunity to tell their view of the story on a Christchurch platform. Some of them would not even give the Prime Minister a hearing, but now that there are more Reform men returned for Canterbury this province will have a better opportunity to learn what the Government is doing." *> , SIR J. WARD'S INTENTION'S. EARLY STATEMENT EXPECTED. [BY. TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. The greatest curiosity has been aroused as to what the Liberal Leader, Sir Joseph Ward, will do in view of his defeat for the Awarua seat. The general opinion is that he will retire from politics. It is understood that he intends' to make a statement in the course of a day or two as to his future intentions. • POLLING IN AUCKLAND EAST. DETAILS OP THE RETURNS. A misprint occurred in the published returns of the polling in Auckland East, • the vote of 264 for Mr. Myers at the Newton East SGhool appearing as 164. The correct figures"are as follows:— Mackenzie. Myers. Way. - Drill Hall ... ... 552 628 295 . St. Andrew's Hall ... 621 422 90 Grafton School ... 470 410 210 ' Masonic H., Eden Ter. 190 261 168 Newton East School 168 264 128 Newmarket 303 525 252 Queen's Wharf ... 162 149 98 Marquee,. Park Road 396 252 66 Military Hospital ... 68 # 36 5 Parnell School ... 202 ' 357 273 ? Marquee, Mountain Rd 95 78 24 1 Cowes 17 4 1 Awaroa 16 2 0 • Putiki Bay 15 13 3 ' Rotoroa " 17 14 8 ■ Ponui 14 0 4 } Motuihi 7 17 , 5 | 3313 3432 1630 5 The majority for Mr. Myers is 119. It l» is estimated that there are 320 absent a,nd soldiers' votes and 60 seamen's votes to be 3 added in the official recount.