NATIONAL PARTY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6988, 10 November 1948, Page 5

NATIONAL PARTY

RAGLAN SEAT THREE NOMINATIONS RECEIVED Three nominations for the National Party candidate to contest the Raglan seat at the general election next year were received by the secretary'of the National Party for the Raglan electorate yesterday when nominations closed. The nominations received are Messrs Hallyburton Johnstone (Whatawhata), F. L. Onion (Te Kowhai) and R. L. Ramsey (Pukekawa). Mr Hallyburton Johnstone, stood for the Raglan electorate in the interests of the National Party at a by-election caused through the death of Mr R. Coulter, Labour member for the district, early in 1946, his opponent being Mr A. C. Baxter. Mr Johnstone won the by-election but in the general election later the same year, after the electoral boundaries had been changed, Mr Baxter (Labour) was declared the winner by 39 votes from Mr Johnstone, who were the only candidates. Magisterial Recount A magisterial recount was held and this reduced Mr Baxter’s majority to 33. In April, 1947, the Electoral Court sat in Hamilton to hear a petition asking the Court to inquire into allegations of irregularity of voting, Mr Johnstone claiming that 167 electors had been illegally placed or retained on the roll and were thus not entitled, to vote, while Mr Baxter counter-claimed that a further 118 electors should not have been allowed to vote. The Court was presided over by the Chief Justice, Sir Humphrey O’Leary, and the hearing occupied l our weeks. The decision of the Court declared Mr Baxter elected but his majority had been reduced to 13. Mr Johnstone, who is a fanner at Whatawhata, is a member of the Raglan County Council, a member of the Central Waikato Electric Power Board and a prominent member of Federated Farmers (Waikato Province). Other Nominees Mr Onion, who is chairman of the Waipa County Council, chairman of the No. 2 Ward of the Counties’ Association, a member of the Waikato Hospital Board and the Central Waikato Electric Power Board and also a director of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company, is also a farmer and a prominent member of Federated Farmers. The other nominee, Mr Ramsey, is a farmer in the Tuakau district. He has been a keen supporter of the National Party in the electorate for many years and has taken a keen interest in local affairs in his district ever a long period.