# 1965 Wellington City mayoral election

The 1965 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1965, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

## Background

There was a rift within the Citizens' Association over their selected candidate for the mayoralty, Matt Benney. Benney was a first term councillor and formerly a reputable civil servant, serving as Under-secretary for Mines from 1940 until he retired in 1959. Benney was chosen as the Citizens' nominee for the mayoralty by the association's executive, but he withdrew his nomination after it became clear that a sizeable majority of sitting Citizens' councillors instead favoured deputy-mayor Denis McGrath. After Benney's declination, councillor Noel Manthel was then proposed as a compromise candidate, but he declined backing McGrath instead. However McGrath declined to stand for mayor and offered himself only for the council. As the deadline for nominations neared a deputation of over 50 businessmen and Citizens' candidates asked Benney to again accept both the nomination and deputy-mayoralty, to which he agreed.
Kitts attracted criticism for insisting on standing for the council as well as the mayoralty. He had done so in the previous five elections (winning the mayoralty in the last three) but with both his large majority in the previous election combined with the frictions within the Citizens' Association, Kitts was expected to win the mayoralty comfortably. Labour supporters thought he should make way for another candidate on the council ticket and reduce the number of wasted votes that would be caused on an inevitable dual election. The Labour Party duly won more votes than the Citizens' Association for the council, including over 18,000 for Kitts, though this only translated into one extra council seat, still leaving the council with a Citizens' majority.

## Mayoralty results

1965 Wellington mayoral election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Frank Kitts | 17,783 | 57.43 | −3.75 |
| | Citizens' | Matt Benney | 11,966 | 38.64 | |
| | United Action | Saul Goldsmith | 1,031 | 3.32 | –4.11 |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 182 | 0.58 | –0.07 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 5,817 | 18.78 | –9.53 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 30,962 | 47.6 | +1.2 |

## Councillor results

1965 Wellington City Council election :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Labour | Frank Kitts | 18,059 | 58.32 | +3.33 |
| Labour | Rolland O'Regan | 16,729 | 54.03 | |
| Citizens' | Matt Benney | 16,606 | 53.63 | +13.60 |
| Labour | John Jeffries | 15,678 | 50.63 | +12.33 |
| Labour | Olive Smuts-Kennedy | 15,294 | 49.39 | |
| Citizens' | Maida Clark | 14,914 | 48.16 | +4.06 |
| Citizens' | Bob Archibald | 14,332 | 46.28 | +0.06 |
| Citizens' | Alice Campbell | 14,013 | 45.25 | +1.24 |
| Citizens' | Denis McGrath | 13,991 | 45.18 | +1.36 |
| Citizens' | Stewart Duff | 13,451 | 43.44 | –0.44 |
| Citizens' | George Porter | 12,767 | 41.23 | +3.10 |
| Citizens' | John Turk | 12,376 | 39.97 | +0.20 |
| Citizens' | Gordon Morrison | 12,305 | 39.74 | +2.09 |
| Labour | Gerald O'Brien | 12,257 | 39.58 | +6.10 |
| Citizens' | William Scollay | 12,095 | 39.06 | |
| Labour | Keith Spry | 11,962 | 38.63 | |
| Labour | Peter Butler | 11,939 | 38.56 | |
| Labour | Willis Livingstone Combs | 11,458 | 37.00 | |
| Labour | Percival Hansen | 11,368 | 36.71 | +6.55 |
| Citizens' | Terry Dunleavy | 11,202 | 36.17 | |
| Citizens' | Roy Parsons | 10,861 | 35.07 | |
| Citizens' | Shirley Rowe | 10,358 | 33.45 | |
| Labour | Edward Hill | 10,305 | 33.28 | |
| Labour | Gwendrith Elsie Haine | 10,209 | 32.97 | |
| Labour | William Rose | 10,050 | 32.45 | |
| Citizens' | William Haydon | 10,026 | 32.38 | |
| Labour | Charles Troughton | 9,761 | 31.52 | |
| Labour | Roland Howell | 9,677 | 31.25 | +3.58 |
| Labour | Alexander Schiff | 9,399 | 30.35 | |
| Citizens' | Oscar Bergh | 8,700 | 28.09 | |
| Independent | Max Wall | 5,585 | 18.03 | |
| United Action | Saul Goldsmith | 4,548 | 14.68 | –10.26 |
| United Action | Frank Tickner | 3,885 | 12.54 | –6.28 |
| United Action | Harold Fownes | 2,802 | 9.04 | |
| United Action | Ron Brierley | 2,791 | 9.01 | –2.84 |
| United Action | Nancy Horrocks | 2,710 | 8.75 | |
| United Action | Peter Madden | 2,691 | 8.69 | |
| United Action | Alice Coe | 2,625 | 8.47 | –2.09 |
| United Action | Lindsay Buick-Constable | 2,557 | 8.25 | |
| United Action | Oliver Goldsmith | 2,421 | 7.81 | |
| United Action | Nancy La Coste | 2,323 | 7.50 | |
| United Action | Barry Michael | 2,014 | 6.50 | |
| United Action | Carlyle Edwards | 2,012 | 6.49 | –2.42 |
| United Action | Maurice de Woolf | 1,947 | 6.28 | |
| United Action | William Crowe | 1,749 | 5.64 | |
| Independent | William Rea | 1,689 | 5.45 | |
| United Action | William Woolhouse | 1,610 | 5.19 | |
| Independent | Philip Cossham | 1,588 | 5.12 | |
| United Action | Evan Collett | 1,500 | 4.84 | |
| United Action | Patrick Fee | 1,342 | 4.33 | –2.04 |
| Communist | Ralph Gooderidge | 1,068 | 3.44 | |
| Communist | Ron Smith | 1,017 | 3.28 | –1.01 |
Table footnotes:
* ↑ As Kitts won the Mayoralty his election to the council was voided and his seat was awarded to the highest polling unsuccessful candidate.