LOCAL ELECTIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23863, 14 January 1941, Page 4

LOCAL ELECTIONS

CONTESTS IN MAT PREPARING THE ROLLS HUGE TASK IN CITY Preparations are being made for the municipal elections which are to be field on May 11 of this year. At a majority of local hotly offices staffs are busy preparing the district electors' list, which, with the supplementary list to be compiled later, will form the roll on which the election will lie based in each area. At the Town Hall a special stall" was occupied for some weeks in November and December purging the roll used in the last municipal election and a subsequent by-election, with the result that over 11.000 names have been removed. ' At the last election in 19.18 the city roll contained 07,001 names. As a result of the careful scrutiny the names of 11,145 "residentials" who did not vote at the municipal election on May 11, 19.18, or at the by-election on July 6, 19.18, were deleted, but 250 of these subsequently applied for reinstatement, and their names were restored. In addition to this adjustment constant attention is-given to the roll by the regular staff, who note when properties change hands and .make the necessary alterations, as well as removing the names of electors whose death has been notified. With these adjustments the city list to-day has approximately 55,000 names. An interesting point mentioned yesterday by the city returning officer, Mr. N. W. Kenny, that at the last election, although there were over 67,000 names on the roll, those who voted numbered 42,58.1, and 448 of these votes were invalid. Another point was that a large nuifliber of names were dropped from the roll as the result, of owners of properties soiling them to the Crown for usie in the Slate Housing scheme. As many of these electors were not residents of the city, their names would not come back on to the roll. The district electors' list, will he completed on .January .11 and will then lie open for inspection for a week. Electors whose names have been deleted or loniitfcd will have until I'Vhruary 15 to 'notify the returning officer and a supfpiementary roll will then be compiled.