1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election

The 1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The elections were held for the role of Mayor of Lower Hutt plus other local government positions including twelve city councillors, also elected triennially. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election
18 November 1950
Turnout12,627 (44.00%)
 
Candidate Percy Dowse William Gregory
Party Labour Citizens'
Popular vote 7,072 5,417
Percentage 56.01 42.90
Mayor before election

William Gregory

 Elected Mayor

Percy Dowse

Background

The incumbent Mayor, William Gregory, sought re-election for a full term after winning a by-election the previous year. Gregory was opposed by Labour Party candidate Percy Dowse who had been a councillor since 1947 (and previously from 1935 to 1938). Dowse, who had run for mayor unsuccessfully twice before in 1938 and 1944, defeated Gregory. Labour won in a landslide securing not only the mayoralty but all 12 seats on the city council as well. However, one of the successful candidates was Dowse resulting in the twelfth council seat being allocated to Citizens' candidate Norman Player.[1]

Mayoral results
1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Percy Dowse 7,072 56.01
Citizens' William Gregory 5,417 42.90 -7.39
Informal votes 138 1.09 +0.64
Majority 1,655 13.10
Turnout 12,627 44.00 +5.65

Councillor results
1950 Lower Hutt City Council election[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Percy Dowse[nb 1] 7,476 59.20 +6.29
Labour Harry Horlor 7,331 58.05 +0.69
Labour Bella Logie 7,212 57.11 +3.52
Labour Trevor Young 6,953 55.06 +5.31
Labour James McDonald 6,847 54.22 +3.34
Labour Sam Chesney 6,845 54.20
Labour Ronald George Maxwell 6,485 54.20 +9.05
Labour John Davey 6,354 50.32
Labour Chen Werry 6,191 49.02
Labour Alexander Murray 6,105 48.34
Labour Frank Whitley 6,057 47.96
Labour Ernest Knights 6,037 47.81
Citizens' Norman Player 4,879 38.63
Citizens' Will Giltrap[nb 2] 4,712 37.31 -15.68
Citizens' Eric Rothwell 4,631 36.67 -14.68
Citizens' Briton Matthews 4,626 36.63 -13.67
Citizens' Marjorie Alice Feist 4,572 36.20
Citizens' Frank Lonsdale 4,540 35.95 -15.26
Citizens' Clarence Edgar Bentley 4,489 35.55
Citizens' George Austad 4,450 35.24 -13.85
Citizens' Dick Simpson 4,210 33.34 -14.86
Citizens' Albert Maud 4,163 32.96
Citizens' Eustace Jackson Rishworth 4,119 32.62
Citizens' Harry Godfrey Calvert 4,002 31.69
Communist Donald Austin 1,008 7.98
Communist William George John Durning 649 5.13

Table footnotes:

  1. As Dowse won the Mayoralty his election to the council was voided and his seat was awarded to the highest polling unsuccessful candidate.
  2. Giltrap was declared elected to the council unopposed in November 1951 to replace Norman Player who resigned.[4]

Notes
  1. "Mayor Beaten in Valley". The Evening Post. 20 November 1950. p. 10.
  2. "City of Lower Hutt - Election of Mayor". The Evening Post. 24 November 1950. p. 2.
  3. "City of Lower Hutt - Election of Twelve Councillors". The Evening Post. 24 November 1950. p. 2.
  4. "New Councillor - Mr. W. Giltrap Elected". Hutt News. 7 November 1951. p. 7.

References
  • Millar, David P. (1972). Once Upon a Village: A History of Lower Hutt 1819-1965. Lower Hutt: New Zealand University Press & LHCC. OCLC 154232923.
  • McGill, David (1991). Lower Hutt – The First Garden City. Petone, New Zealand: Lower Hutt City Council. ISBN 1-86956-003-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.