1917 Napier mayoral election

The Napier mayoral election, 1917 was held to determine the next Mayor of Napier. At this time Napier held their local elections biennially. In 1915, elections were held for the Mayor of Napier plus other local government positions. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1917 Napier mayoral election
25 April 1917
Turnout2,726
 
Candidate Henry Hill Vigor Brown
Party Labour Independent
Popular vote 1,561 1,165
Percentage 57.26 42.73
Mayor before election

Vigor Brown

 Elected Mayor

Henry Hill

Background and candidates

Finances were the major talking point of the contest. The council had an overdraft of around £20,000 caused by huge public works expenditure.[1]

Henry Hill

Hill practiced law in Napier, but made his name as a school inspector and earning a good reputation for public service. He was elected as a Napier City Councillor in 1915.[2] Hill was also a member of the Hawke's Bay Hospital Board, the Hawke's Bay Electric Power Board, the Napier High School board of governors.[3]

Vigor Brown

Vigor Brown was a prominent figure in Napier in the opening decades of the twentieth century. His career stretched back to 1898 when he was elected to both the Napier Harbour Board and the Napier Borough Council.[2] He was the incumbent mayor, having held office for a decade when he was first elected in 1907.[4]

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Napier mayoral election, 1917[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Henry Hill 1,561 57.26
Independent Vigor Brown 1,165 42.74
Majority 396 14.52
Turnout 2,726

Brown was the first to declare his intention to stand in the next mayoral election in 1919, with Hill then acceding to a requisition by ratepayers.[6] Brown defeated Hill by a very small margin; the initial count had him three votes ahead,[7] but in the final declaration, this increased to a sixteen vote victory (1818 votes versus 1802).[8]

Notes
  1. "Mayoralty of Napier". Hastings Standard. VII (109). 3 May 1917. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  2. Campbell 1975, p. 225.
  3. Matthews, Kay Morris. "Henry Hill". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  4. Axford, C. Joy (1 September 2010). "Brown, John Vigor - Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  5. "Mayoral Elections". Hastings Standard. VII (107). 1 May 1917. p. 1. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  6. "Local Body Elections". Hastings Standard. IX (105). 17 April 1919. p. 5. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  7. "Municipal Elections". Hastings Standard. IX (115). 1 May 1919. p. 5. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  8. "A Close Contest". Poverty Bay Herald. XLVI (14902). 5 May 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 27 May 2016.

References
  • Campbell, M.D.N. (1975). Story of Napier, 1874-1974. Napier: Martin Printing Company.
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