THE BATTLE OVER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23499, 13 May 1938, Page 10

THE BATTLE OVER

CUT SETTLES INTO ROUTINE NEW ORDER OF CITY COUNCIL RETURNING OFFICERS' WORRIES SCRUTINY OF THE ROLLS The tumuli and the shouting have died, and yesterday the citizens of Dunedin, who have been the subjects of so many overtures during the past two or three weeks, said “ I told you so,” or “ the public is a fickle body,” or perhaps other things, and settled down to their routine undisturbed by the influences of a municipal election campaign that appears to have taken first place in the Dominion so far as public interest is concerned. Dunedin has been caught up in a flood or argument and controversy, and the outcome of it all was shown very clearly by about midnight on Wednesday. In fact, it was clear much earlier than that because the announcement of the mayoralty contest proved a sound indication of the trend of the whole of the local body elections.

There were many items of interest in the results published yesterday; but unquestionably pride of place was given to the extent to which Mr M. Silverstone, chairman of the Finance Committee in the retiring council, had dropped in public favour. The fact that he ranked twenty-second among the 28 candidates for election to the City Council and twelfth among the 16 candidates for the Otago Hospital Board can be construed as the citizens wish to construe it; but certainly it was the topic of conversation which received the greatest attention yesterday. At any rate, there was plenty of food for discussion, and also plenty of work remaining to be done by the returning officers in the various districts and their assistants.

Busy Officers

The Dunedin Town Hall was a hive of industry on Wednesday evening, and Mr R. A. Johnston and his staff will not be able to say “ another election over ” for some days yet. The scrutiny of the rolls was the first duty to be undertaken yesterday, and that demanded the concentration of 25 men. Every roll used on Wednesday had to be checked carefully, and when that is disposed of, the recounting will be begun. Mr Johnston is not yet able to give a definite indication as to when the final results will be available beyond saying that it certainly will not be for a few days. Until those figures are announced there is officially no change in the office of Mayor; but in this instance the majority was sufficiently definite to remove all likelihood of any lastminute surprise. The new Mayor will be installed formally into office at a public function on Wednesday of next week, and that will also be the occasion for a farewell address by the retiring Mayor, whose duty it is to install his successor. It is the custom then for a motion to be carried expressing appreciation of the services of retiring councillors and for the new council to meet and appoint standing committees and their chairmen. The remuneration of the Mayor is a subject which also has to be decided by an early meeting- . , But all those functions are merely part of the routine procedure. Public interest reached its climax on Wednesday night, and that it was a real climax was shown by the intensity of the voting interest taken during the day. The duties of the returning officer are manifold, and Mr Johnston was besieged with requests for additional help on the afternoon and evening of election day. Many of the smaller booths were inundated, and the allocation of men to deal with the various congestions was a task that required expert manipulation. That such- a big poll was handled so smoothly and efficiently was a credit to the returning officer and his army of assistants. Around the Table The first meeting of the new council is going to involve an interesting reshuffling of seats round the council table. There will be eight new faces and a new figure in the mayoral chair, and instead ot Labour members occupying a row of the seats at the head the table, there will be only Dr D. G. McMillan to uphold the reputations built up from that quarter by Mr F. Jones, himself, Mr Munro and Mr Silverstone during the past three years. Dr McMillan will be in third place, with Mr D. C. Cameron and Dr W H Borrie on the one side ot him, and Mr W. H. Shepherd on the other Strangely enough, both ot his new neighbours, ? orn £ Mr Shepherd, have William Henrj as their Christian names. Mr Munro will be two seats further way, in the seat formerly occupied by the new Mayor, and he will be flanked by two new members, Mr M. C. Henderson and Mr John McCrae. Mr Robert Walls, whose triple success was another most interesting feature of the elections, will be on the other side of Mr McCrae, and Citizens Association candidates in Messrs H. U Gibson, W. B. Taverner and H A. Newall will form a block at the other end of the table. . The composition of the council is back to where it was three years ago. Labour will have only three "epresentatives among the 12 councillors, but it has already been stated by one of those three that they will keep the Labour standard flying. The citizens have given an emphatic reply to party control in municipal affairs, as is shown by the fact that two members of the retiring council, Messrs William Begg and W. A. Scott, both of whom stood as independents, finished as low on the list as nineteenth and twentyfirst respectively. One Amended Result It is possible that there will be minor changes in this order when the final figures are announced. That mistakes can be made was indicated by the fact that a wrong return was responsible 'for the incorrect placing in the first announcement of the candidates for the Otago Hospital Board for the combined districts of Waihemo and Waikouaiti and the Boroughs of Palmerston, Port Chalmers and Waikouaiti. It was announced on Wednesdaay that Henry S. Sheat had polled 993 votes against Catherine Allen Fraser’s total of 969; but the returning officer at Waikouaiti reported yesterday that a wrong return had been received from the Port Chalmers booth. The amended figures were: Catherine Allen Fraser 1022, Henry Stephen Sheat 973.