LABOUR LOSSES

Southland Times, Issue 24440, 21 May 1941, Page 4

LABOUR LOSSES

CLEAN SWEEP IN WELLINGTON PARTY PRESIDENT AND M.P.’S REJECTED The swing against Labour, which was the outstanding feature, of the local body elections on Saturday, was especially pronounced in Wellington, where the Labour Party not only failed to gain the Mayoralty but did not win a single seat on the City Council, the Hospital Board, or the Harbour Board. All the sitting Labour members of these three local bodies were defeated, though many of them were well-known public men with years of service to their credit. The sitting Mayor, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, received more votes than his Labour opponent, Mr R. McKean, M.P., at 57 of the 73 polling booths, and ended with a majority, of 9000. The whole Citizens’ Association ticket of 15 candidates was elected to the City Council. Mr R. A. Wright, who topped the poll, received 19,468 votes and . the lowest Citizens’ candidate received 14,152. The highest Labour candidate, who was Mr McKeen, had 12,517 votes and the lowest Labour candidate only 8158. The defeated councillors were Mr McKeen, Mr C. H. Chapman, M.P., and the Hon. T. Brindle, M.L.C., all of whom had served long terms on the council, Mr P. M. Butler, Mr A. Black and Mrs R. Semple. Mrs C. C. S. Stewart, M.P., who defeated Mr Wright in the last parliamentary election, received only half the number of votes given to Mr Wright.

ALL CANDIDATES DEFEATED In the Hospital Board election the result was substantially the same. Every Citizens’ candidate was elected and every Labour candidate defeated, and the margins were much the same as in the City Council election. Mr H. E. Combs, M.P., Mrs Stewart, M.P., and Mrs Semple were all rejected, as were Messrs J. Glover and A. W. Croskery. Citizens’ candidates won all four city seats on the- Wellington Harbour Board as well as both seats for the Combined (Hutt-Petone) District. The defeated Labour candidates in the city poll were Mr McKeen, M.P., Mr Chapman, M.P., the Hon. T. Brindle, M.L.C., and Mr J. Roberts. Mr Roberts, the president of the Labour Party, who was second to bottom in the poll, received 9456 votes compared with 18,648 given to Mr C. J. B. Norwood (C.A.), who topped the poll. Citizens’ candidates captured all the seats on the Lower Hutt City Council, Labour losing the seats it previously held. Mr J. W. Andrews was re-elected Mayor with a substantial majority. In Petone, Mr G. London (Citizens), now on active service, was returned as Mayor unopposed, and Labour lost one of the three seats it held on the borough council. FAILURE IN GISBORNE The Labour Mayor of Gisborne, Mr D. W. Coleman, M.P., failed to secure re-election and lost the seat he had occupied on the Cook Hospital Board since 1918. His party’s majority on the borough council also disappeared. Citizens’ Associations won all the seats on the Napier and Hastings Borough Councils. , .

In Auckland the Citizens’ Association won the mayoralty, 20 out of 21 seats on the City Council, and a majority of the city seats on the Hospital Board. Mr W. T. Anderton, M.P., and P. Carr, M.P., were among the vanquished. In the Auckland district, an attempt to gain control of the Mount Eden Borough Council resulted in the defeat of all the Labour candidates, and there was a turnover against Labour at Onehunga. The only two Labour Mayors returned in the whole Auckland metropolitan area were Mr S. W. Rickards (New Lynn) and Mr C. R. Petrie, M.P. (Otahuhu).