MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20842, 8 April 1931, Page 10

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

ROLLS CLOSE TO-DAY. APATHY OF THE PUBLIC. Persons qualified to vote at the municipal elections next month have only until 5 p.m. to-day to put their names upon the supplementary rolls, which will close at that hour. The Auckland City main roll, which closed on January 31, contains 46,801 names, but unless there is a very heavy last-minutes rush it is unlikely that the supplementary 101 l will contain much more than 1000. The City Council has placed copies of the main roll in all its libraries for public inspection, and the committees of the mayoral candidates and other organisations have also been active, but there has not been much response so far on the part of the public. One reason, apparently, is that owing to the depression there has not been so much movement of population as in normal times. Although residents, as well as ratepayers, aro entitled to vote at municipal elections, many people are unaware of the fact, and ratepayers, together with their husbands and wives, make up a larger proportion of those on the roll than they would if other qualified persons exercised the franchise. In the present state of the. property market, new ratepayers are comparatively few, which helps to account for the lack of fresh enrolments.