The 1963 general election

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Colla Nicholls social Credit, a builder

By the time this issue appears, Nelson electors will have chosen the man to represent them in Parliament for the next three years, and the people throughout New Zealand will, collectively, have voted a political party into office. In Nelson the people were given the choice of three parties-Labour, as represented by the sitting M.P., Mr Stan Whitehead; National, represented by Mr Peter Malone, and Social Credit, represented by Mr Colin Nicholls.

During November these three candidates have travelled extensively in the Nelson electorate putting their parties' policies to the people in public halls, street corners and in factories. They've answered questions, dealt with all manner of interjections and at times sniped at each other.

With what result? That's difficult to tell. We watched the election campaign in Nelson fairly closely and were puzzled by the apparent lack of interest shown. It would seem that this attitude was not confined to Nelson either. It became abundantly clear short-ly after the campaigning began that there were no really big contentious issues likely to draw voters to the halls and although the abandoned cotton mill and the railway received their share of attention, for the most part it appeared as if electors had already decided which way their vote was to go and left the electioneering to the politicians.

As this issue went to press before November 30 we cannot at this stage know for certain which candidate will represent Nelson in Parliament, although we have a very shrewd idea that Stan Whitehead will be the man. Whoever it is, may we offer our congratulations and the hope that your endeavours over the next three years will be of benefit both to Nelson and to the country as a whole.

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Mr Peter Malone addressing waterside workers in their hall at the port

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So it was that rather than ask the people to come to the candidates, the candidates went to the people-into factories and on to street corners. The campaign had its humorous as well as its serious side. An example is the sign (left) erected on what is now commonly referred to in Nelson as "Walter's Bluff". Several times the word "ban" was altered to "vote" and then back again to "ban". The last we saw of it, the sign lacked either of these two words.