MOUNT EDEN CONTEST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21482, 4 May 1933, Page 11

MOUNT EDEN CONTEST

MR. McNAB'S VICTORY __________ SUPPORT IN COUNCIL FULL TICKET RETURNED Once again there was a keen contest in the election at Mount Eden. Each of the candidates for the Mayoralty, Mr. T. McNab, the sitting Mayor, and Mr. J. J. Mulvihill, was associated with a full ticket of 12 candidates for the council, and voting followed closely along these party lines. The Ratepayers' Association, whose candidates wore completely successful two years ago, on this occasion opposed seven out of the eight councillors who were seeking re-election. The result was a decisive victory both for Mr. McNab, who was returned with a majority of over 1100, and for the candidates associated with him. Mr. McNab held a lead over his opponent at every one of the 11 booths. The whole 12 of his "ticket of business men" were successful, the lowest of them having a lead of 300 over the highest of the Rat<payers' Association's nominees. The only sitting councillor to be rejected was Mr. A. P. Hartnoll, the one who appeared on the Ratepayers' Association's ticket. Of the 10,794 electors on the roll, only about 4730 cast their votes, but, nevertheless, there were 800 more votes cast this year than two years ago. An innovation that was much appreciated by Mount Eden electors whose business keeps them in the city during the day was the establishment of a polling place at the Chamber of Commerce, Swanson Street, where about 300 voted. Details of the poll are as follows: — The Mayoralty T. McNab . . . . 2,879 J. J. Mulvihill . . . . 1,774 Majority . . . . 1,105 The New Council *R. J. Mills . . . . 2,520 *C Cowan . . . , . 2,505 *S. E. Chappell . . . . 2,423 *6. W. A. Clark . . 2,423 *T. Davidson . , 2,422 W. J. Gatenby . 2,400 J. K. Johnston >■. 2,396 K. N. Buttle . „. 2,339 J. H. Walters . . . . 2,296 \T. A. Steelo . . . 2,282 *F. S. Battley . . . . 2,280 It. Hay . . . . . . 2,064 Unsuccessful *A. P. Hartnoll . . . . 1,873 H. J. Ashby . . . . 1,844 Rev. A. J. Greenwood . 1,735 B. Grayson . . . . 1,692 A. R. Donald . . . . 1,592 A. E. Buckley . . . . 1,575 A. G. Lee > < > , 1,518 E. E. Roberts . . . 1,406 T. D. Savage ..• > « 1,460 W. McNickle . < > . 1,390 L. H. Crawford . . . 1,383 11. Hoppy 1,332 •Members of old council. VOTING IN THE CITY ABSENCE OF CONGESTION

CROSS SYSTEM SUCCESSFUL There was almost an entire absence of congestion at the many polling places in the Auckland city area yesterday. All the polling places were adequately staffed and there was ample provision of facilities to enable the electors to record their votes. Voting was steady during the morning with increased activity as the afternoon progressed, while there was the inevitable rush after live o'clock. One of the busiest centres was the Town Hall, which had the largest staff. There was always activity at the Chamber of Commerce in Swanson Street, but the rush here was perhaps not as great as in former years, probably due to the fact that many voters used the booths provided at Nathan's Building in High Street. . The stream of voters m relation to the provision made for them was greatest at the Epiphany Hall in Newton. By four o'clock more than 900 electors had recorded their votes there and it, became necessary to supply additional voting papers. This position was created bv the fact that the East Street Hall, which in other years has been a popular voting place, was not in use. No use was made this year of St. Benedicts Hall near the Symonds Street end of East' Street, this' polling place having been transferred to Scots Hall. It is thought that a. number of voters who had been in the habit of voting at St. Benedict's Hall found it more convenient to go to the Epiphany Hall rather than to Scots Hall. At most of the polling places there was a marked improvement in the speed at which the voters passed through the booths, and this was undoubtedly due to the greater ease with which the papers could he marked under the new svstem of indicating the choice by a cross opposite the names of the favoured candidate. Several officers in charge of polling places remarked on the small number of spoiled ballot papers returned to them, which attributed to the simpler cross method. The difference in the time taken was noted bv business men exercising a number'of votes on behalf of companies. One man said that at the election two years fl£o it took him over an hour to mark the papers handed to him on behalf of eight companies, but this year he carried out the task in less than a-quarter of an hour. ANNOUNCING THE NEWS HERALD SPECIAL SERVICES Detailed organisation by the Hekat/d in conjunction with radio station IYA made the election results available to thousands of people last even in m within a few moments of the votes being counted. Listeners in the province were able to hear the results of their local elections announced from the Hehai.l) building without leaving their own firesides. A network of information covering all the polling places in the city and suburbs, and amplified by the trunk telephone services, enabled the progress and final results to be known at the Herat,!) office in many cases before they were known on the street outside the polling places. They were immediately announced over a relay line through IYA. In addition to this, two telephone lines were set aside by the Herald specially for inquiries, and for several hours a constant stream of requests for information had to be coped with. MAYOR OF ONEHUNGA MR. MORTON RE-ELECTED The Mayor of Onehunga, Mr. E. Morton, has been re-elected for a third term of office. He gained almost an absolute majority over the' combined votes of his two opponents, Messrs 1. H. Geraghtv and F. W. Mountjoy. There was no election for the council, as only the required number was nominatThere were 5537 electors on the roll but only 2767 voted. Details of the poll are as follow: *E. Morton . . • • 1.362 T. H. Geraghtv . . . l>o'j° F. W. Mountjoy . . 367 Majority m s h 324