1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election

1950 Lower Hutt mayoral election

←  1949 18 November 1950 1953  →
Turnout	12,627 (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

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.

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.