1959 Christchurch mayoral election

1959 Christchurch mayoral election
Turnout	30,108 (32.47%)
Mayor before election; George Manning;	Elected mayor ; George Manning;

The 1959 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1959, election were held for the Mayor of Christchurch plus other local government positions. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

Background

Sitting mayor George Manning was re-elected for a full term, with a decreased majority, opposed only by Harold Smith of the Citizens' Association. Smith was successful in winning a seat on the council and was appointed deputy mayor.^[1] The Citizens' Association won every council seat leaving Manning (who was also elected to the Harbour Board) as the only Labour Party elected representative in Christchurch.^[2] The overall anti-Labour vote (which was consistent nationwide) was attributed to the unpopularity of the then Labour government.^[3] Prime Minister Walter Nash commented simply "We seem to have held the mayoralties" in reference that in Christchurch (as well as in Wellington and Lower Hutt) Labour mayors were re-elected despite voters electing majority centre-right councils.^[4]

Mayoralty results

The following table gives the election results:

1959 Christchurch mayoral election^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	George Manning	15,635	51.92	−5.41
	Citizens'	Harold Smith	14,197	47.15
Informal votes			276	0.91	+0.33
Majority			1,438	4.77	−10.48
Turnout			30,108	32.47	+7.36

Councillor results

Councillors were elected at large and 19 positions were available. All councillors were from the Citizens' ticket.^[6]

1959 Christchurch local election^[6]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Citizens'	Hamish Hay	18,065	60.00
Citizens'	Ron Guthrey	17,610	58.48	+10.65
Citizens'	Mary McLean	17,521	58.19	+6.30
Citizens'	Bill Glue	17,469	58.02	+6.89
Citizens'	Peter Skellerup	16,965	56.34	+4.77
Citizens'	Reginald George Brown	16,815	55.84	+10.95
Citizens'	Maurice Carter	16,443	54.61	+7.76
Citizens'	Harold Smith	16,379	54.40	+3.69
Citizens'	Bill MacGibbon	16,282	54.07	+2.20
Citizens'	William James Cowles	15,625	51.89	+5.28
Citizens'	William Ernest Olds	15,550	51.64	−7.28
Citizens'	Alma Schumacher	15,517	51.53	+8.37
Citizens'	George Griffiths	15,115	50.20	+8.34
Citizens'	Tom Flint	14,822	49.22
Citizens'	Gordon Denis Hattaway	14,721	48.89
Citizens'	James Ronald Smith	14,679	48.75
Citizens'	Walter Raymond Campbell	14,670	48.72	+6.47
Citizens'	Gordon Alison Guy Connal	14,637	48.61
Citizens'	Alvan Samuel Hollander	14,465	48.04
Labour	Robert Macfarlane^{[nb 1]}	13,837	45.95	−9.21
Labour	Lyn Christie	12,979	43.10	−6.19
Labour	Reg Stillwell	12,590	41.81	−1.32
Labour	Harold Denton	12,012	39.89	−3.79
Labour	Mick Connelly	11,974	39.77	−5.59
Labour	Arthur John Smith	11,020	36.60	−5.57
Labour	Norman Reginald Forbes	10,917	36.25	−7.02
Labour	Gertrude Cree	10,614	35.25
Labour	James Shankland Sr.	10,367	34.43	−7.02
Labour	Clarence Hall	10,184	33.82
Labour	John Palmer	10,004	33.22	−4.78
Labour	Walter William Browne	9,940	33.01
Labour	Archibald Galbraith	9,843	32.69	−7.02
Labour	John Gordon Power	9,792	32.52
Labour	John Athol Gregor	9,564	31.76	−7.22
Labour	Eric Leach	9,570	31.78
Labour	Lyell Charles John Southon	9,162	30.43
Labour	Richard Leach	8,968	29.78
Labour	James Quickenden	8,864	29.44
Independent	George Maxwell Edmonds	4,823	16.01
Independent	Charles E. Cullen	2,610	8.66
Communist	Jack Locke	1,800	5.97	+1.14

Table footnotes:

^ Macfarlane was appointed to the council on 13 May 1961 to fill a vacancy caused by William James Cowles' death

References

^ "Mayors Opponent To Become Deputy-Mayor". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29059. 23 November 1959. p. 14.
^ "Mayoral Poll – Mr Manning Succeeds". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29059. 23 November 1959. p. 14.
^ "Anti-Labour Trend Was General". The Evening Post. 23 November 1959. p. 10.
^ "Have Held the Mayoralties—P.M.". The Evening Post. 23 November 1959. p. 10.
^ "Election of Mayor". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29066. 1 December 1959. p. 28.
^ ^a ^b "Christchurch City Council". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29066. 1 December 1959. p. 28.

[7] Macfarlane was appointed to the council on 13 May 1961 to fill a vacancy caused by William James Cowles' death

[1] "Mayors Opponent To Become Deputy-Mayor". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29059. 23 November 1959. p. 14.

[2] "Mayoral Poll – Mr Manning Succeeds". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29059. 23 November 1959. p. 14.

[3] "Anti-Labour Trend Was General". The Evening Post. 23 November 1959. p. 10.

[4] "Have Held the Mayoralties—P.M.". The Evening Post. 23 November 1959. p. 10.

[5] "Election of Mayor". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29066. 1 December 1959. p. 28.

[results-6] "Christchurch City Council". The Press. Vol. XCVIII, no. 29066. 1 December 1959. p. 28.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[nb 1]

1959 Christchurch mayoral election

Background

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

References

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