RURAL SEATS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 73, Issue 6306, 18 November 1946, Page 5

RURAL SEATS

CAMPAIGN IN THE WAIKATO CLOSE CONTESTS LIKELY For the first time for many years the general election in the Wiaikato area will be fought out between the main parties in New Zealand, the Labour Party and the National Party, as for the electorates of Hamilton, W/aikato, Ragflan, Piako and Hauraki only the two nominations have been received, states the Waikato Times. At present National Party members hold Hamilton, Waikato, Raglan and Hauraki, and for the newly-constituted electorate of Piako, which comprises large portions of the old Hauraki and Waikato electorates, a sitting National Party candidate is representing the party. In spite of the fact that the farming electorates of the fertile Waikato valley have always been traditionally conservative, the margins in the 1943 elections and in the subsequent byelections were not sufficiently wide to state positively that there is no doubt about the results of the polling on November 27th. The splitting of the votes at previous elections and the fact that all electoral boundaries in the area have been changed quite substantially makes it difficult to forecast the result. The various candidates have been campaigning strenuously during the past three weeks land from observations made at the varous meetings in all the electorates it appears as if all contests are going to be very closely fought.

Perhaps the most striking feature about the campaign in this area to cijate has been the general apathy shown at all meetings, although it must be admitted that during* the past few days there appears to be a' greater interest taken in the meetings, which have been more reminiscent of previous campaigns. The attendances at all meetings have been remarkably good, considering the numerous wet and wintry nights, but there has not appeared to the observer the same deep thinking and interest at any of the meetings this year.

In. the 1943 elections, which were held in September, there were four candidates for the Hamilton seat, and when the figures went up on the night of the elections Mr F. Finlay (National) won the seat with 6860 votes, with Mr C. A. Barrell (Labour and sitting member) 6619 votes, Mr A- E. Allen (Democratic Labour) 805 and Mr W. H. Thompson (Independent) 187. The grand total of votes was 14,571, and the number of voters eligible! wjas 17,882. In the by-election in May, 1945, caused through the death of Mr Finlay, there were again four candidates, Mrs Hilda Ross (National winning the seat with 6217 votes recorded on the night of. the poll, compared with the following for the other candidates; Mr C. A. Barrell (Labour) 5260, Mr J. A. Lee (Democratic Labour) 1132, and Mr D. Seymour (Independent) 137. The total vote was 13,097, compared with 20,022 on the roll. In the Waikato electorate in the 1943 election, there were four candidates and Mr W. S. Goosman (National) (gained a wide majority, polling 67% of the votes cast. The figures were: Mr Goosman (National) 6959, Mr C- Croall (Labour) 2599, Mt J. H. Penniket (Independent) 438 and Mr C. Burke (Democratic Labour) 308. Mr Goosman for this election is standing for the new Piako seat and Mr G. F. Sim, who won the Rotorua seat for the National Party with a margin of 757 over Mr A. FMoncur, the sitting member, will contest Waikato this year. In the 1943 election Labour retained the Raglan seat when Mr R. Coulter polled 4427 votes as against Mr R. J. Glasgow (National) 4374, Mr A. J. Dillon (Democratic Labour) 257 and Mr S- Burton (Real Democracy) 205. On the death of Mr Coulter the by-election ,was a straight-out contest between the two present aspirants of the seat, Mr Hallyburton Johnstone for National, and Mr Alan Baxter for Labour. It was a close contest with Mr Johnstone polling 4627 votes and Mr Baxter 4433, Mr Johnstone’s majority . being 194 on the night the figures were hoisted. The official count increased Mr Johnstone’s majority to 309. There Were five candidates in the 1943 elections for the Hauraki seat, Mr A. S. Sutherland (National and sitting member) gaining a comfortable win. The figures were: Mr Sutherland 5340, Mr E. C. M. Robinson (Labour) 2308, Mr R. G. Young (R. Democratic) 306, Mr D. C. Beloe (Dem. Labour) 292, and Mr H. T. Head (Independent People’s Movement) 96. Mr Sutherland’s electorate has been greatly altered for this election.