1938 Christchurch mayoral election

The 1938 Christchurch City mayoral election was held on 11 May. The incumbent, John Beanland of the Citizens' Association, failed to get the nomination by his party and the surgeon Dr. John Guthrie was nominated instead. The Labour Party nominated Robert Macfarlane. Both the Labour and conservative candidate had been members of Christchurch City Council for some years. Macfarlane narrowly won the mayoralty.

1938 Christchurch mayoral election

← 1936 11 May 1938 1941 →
Turnout	36,116
Candidate Robert Macfarlane John Guthrie Party Labour Citizens' Popular vote 18,698 17,418 Percentage 51.77 48.23
Mayor before election John Beanland Citizens' Elected mayor Robert Macfarlane Labour

Background

The 1935 Christchurch mayoral election had been won by Dan Sullivan of the Labour Party; he had been mayor since 1931. The Labour Party subsequently won the November 1935 general election and Sullivan was appointed cabinet minister. Sullivan reluctantly resigned from the mayoralty in February 1936, as the heavy workload of a cabinet minister was incompatible with remaining mayor.^[1][2] The resulting by-election in March 1936 was won by building contractor John Beanland of the Citizens' Association. His main challenger had been Rev John Archer, who had previously been mayor from 1925 until 1931. An independent Labour candidate, Edward Leslie Hills, received less than 2% of the vote in that by-election.^[3][4]

Candidates

John Guthrie

On 18 March 1938, the Citizens' Association held its nomination meeting. Dr. John Guthrie was chosen in favour of the incumbent mayor, John Beanland, who accepted nomination to the city council instead.^[5][6] Guthrie was born in Akaroa in 1877 as the son of a surgeon, also named John Guthrie. He received his education in Christchurch, first at Cathedral Grammar School, then at Christchurch Boys' High School, followed by Canterbury University College. Guthrie junior completed his medical education at the University of Glasgow where his father had also trained.^[5][7][8]

Guthrie Jr was a captain with the Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps in 1918/19 during World War I.^[8] Prior to the war, he had a general practice in Lyttelton from 1907 and was honorary surgeon at Christchurch Hospital from 1915. Since the war, he was a consulting surgeon in Christchurch.^[5][8] Guthrie had previously been on the Lyttelton Borough Council^[8] and had won election to Christchurch City Council in 1935.^[9] Guthrie was a member of the Canterbury College Council. In the arts, he was involved with the Canterbury Society of Arts and the Royal Christchurch Musical Society (now known as the Christchurch City Choir). He played tennis and golf and was at one point president of the United Tennis Club (now known as the Hagley Park Tennis Club).^[5]

Robert Macfarlane

The Labour Party went through a lengthy nomination process. At the end of January 1938, it was revealed that various organisations affiliated to Labour had put forward six potential candidates: Rev John Archer, John Septimus Barnett, Terry McCombs, Robert Macfarlane, George Manning, and John Mathison.^[10] Of those, Macfarlane, Barnett, and McCombs contested the Labour Party selection, where Macfarlane was chosen by secret ballot.^[11] At the same meeting, candidates for six Christchurch general electorates were confirmed, with Macfarlane chosen to contest the Christchurch North electorate in the 1938 general election.^[12]

Macfarlane was born in Christchurch in 1900. Raised by his grandmother, he attended Waltham School and may have had two years of high school. He worked in various labour job. In 1918, he joined the Christchurch Socialist Party and became its president shortly after. In 1919, he joined the Christchurch South branch of the Labour Party. When the Christchurch East branch of the Labour Party was founding in 1922, Macfarlane became its inaugural secretary. In 1925, he became secretary of the North Canterbury Labour Representation Committee; a role he still held in 1938.^[11][13] He was first elected onto Christchurch City Council in 1927 but failed to get re-elected in 1929. In the 1935 general election, he stood in the Christchurch North electorate and got narrowly beaten by Sidney Holland. He regained a seat on Christchurch City Council in a by-election in 1936.^[11]

Results

The election was held on Wednesday, 11 May 1938, from 9am to 7pm. The first-past-the-post voting system was used. There were 18 polling booths in Christchurch Central, 19 polling booths across Linwood and Woolston, 23 polling booths across St Albans and Papanui, 33 polling booths across Sydenham and Spreydon, and 1 polling booth in Lyttelton; a total of 94 booths.^[14][15][16] Macfarlane won the mayoral election over Guthrie.^[17]

There were four different bodies elected that day. Apart from the mayoralty people voted for 16 city councillors (33 candidates), 9 hospital board representatives (18 candidates), and 4 Lyttelton Harbour Board representatives (8 candidates). On the city council, the Citizens' Association had held a majority (11 of 16 seats) but this was reversed by the Labour Party, which won 10 of the seats.^[15][17]

Mayoral election results

1938 Christchurch mayoral election^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	18,698	51.77
	Citizens'	John Guthrie	17,418	48.23
Majority			1,280	3.54
Turnout			36,116

City councillor election results

1938 Christchurch City Council election^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Barnett	20,762	57.48	+13.92
	Labour	George Manning	20,421	56.54	+7.86
	Labour	Edward Parlane	20,263	56.10	+11.29
	Citizens'	Hugh Acland	18,471	51.14	−1.05
	Labour	Harold Denton	18,350	50.80	+16.22
	Labour	Mabel Howard	18,212	50.42	+10.56
	Labour	John David Carey	17,667	48.91	+14.69
	Labour	Thomas Nuttall	17,614	48.77
	Labour	John Edward Jones	17,177	47.56
	Citizens'	Ernest Andrews	16,895	46.77	−2.74
	Labour	Ernest Alan Sharp	16,861	46.68
	Citizens'	Alfred Charles Sandston	16,773	46.44	−1.96
	Citizens'	Melville Lyons	16,411	45.43	−5.60
	Citizens'	Thomas Milliken	16,404	45.42	+1.35
	Citizens'	John Beanland	16,248	44.99	−8.88
	Labour	Frank George Thomas	16,246	44.98
	Labour	Reg Jones	16,245	44.97
	Labour	Harold Ernest Fenton	16,200	44.85
	Labour	Frederick Michael Robson	15,920	44.08
	Citizens'	Frank Driessen Sargent	15,694	43.45	+0.77
	Citizens'	Bill MacGibbon	15,486	42.87	−0.43
	Labour	Arthur Henry Scales	15,480	42.86
	Labour	William Patrick Hickey	15,445	42.76	+14.32
	Labour	Frederick Kelso	15,418	42.69
	Citizens'	William Hayward	15,400	42.64	−2.46
	Citizens'	Frank Sturmer Wilding	15,310	42.39
	Citizens'	Henry Frederick Herbert	15,001	41.53
	Citizens'	Thomas Andrews	14,998	41.52	−4.55
	Citizens'	George Daniel Simpson	14,432	39.96
	Citizens'	Herbert Clarence Hurst	14,312	39.62
	Citizens'	William Scholes Grigg	13,438	37.20
	Citizens'	Frederick Laws	12,364	34.23
	Independent	Berthold Ahlfeld	3,284	9.09	+4.49

Aftermath

Macfarlane served a three-year term as mayor and did not stand for re-election as he wanted to serve in World War II. During his mayoralty, he unsuccessfully stood in the 1938 general election but was successful in a 1939 by-election, when he succeeded Ted Howard.^[13] Guthrie did not contest further elections but became the president of the local branch of the New Zealand National Party. Guthrie died in 1942.^[19] Macfarlane served a further eight years as mayor from 1950 to 1958.^[13]

References

1. Watson, James. "Sullivan, Daniel Giles". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
2. "By-Elections for Council". The Press. Vol. LXXI, no. 21647. 4 December 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
3. "The By-Election". The Press. Vol. LXXII, no. 21730. 12 March 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
4. "The Municipal By-Elections". The Press. Vol. LXXII, no. 21729. 11 March 1936. p. 12. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
5. "The Municipal Elections". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22355. 19 March 1938. p. 16. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
6. "General News". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22375. 12 April 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
7. Macdonald, George. "John Guthrie". Macdonald Dictionary. Canterbury Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
8. Scholefield, Guy (1941). Who's Who in New Zealand and the Western Pacific, 1941 (4th ed.). Masterton. p. 167.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
9. "Councillors of the City of Christchurch". Christchurch: Christchurch City Council. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
10. "Candidates for Ballot". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22312. 28 January 1938. p. 14. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
11. "The Municipal Elections: Mr Macfarlane for Mayoralty". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22336. 25 February 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
12. "Candidates endorsed: Six parliamentary seats". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22336. 25 February 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
13. Clark, Kath. "Macfarlane, Robert Mafeking". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
14. "Poll to be held to-day". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22398. 11 May 1938. p. 12. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
15. "Christchurch City Council". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22388. 29 April 1938. p. 21. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
16. "Christchurch City Council". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22388. 29 April 1938. p. 21. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
17. "Local body elections: Mr R. M. Macfarlane wins mayoralty". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22399. 12 May 1938. p. 18. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
18. "Christchurch City Council". The Press. Vol. LXXIV, no. 22403. 17 May 1938. p. 20. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
19. "Obituary: Dr. John Guthrie". The Press. Vol. LXXVIII, no. 23663. 13 June 1942. p. 6. Retrieved 23 October 2019.