Collins Wins in Primary With 46% of Vote

Boston's Mayor John F. Collins practically assured himself of re-election yesterday by drawing 46 percent of an unexpectedly large vote in the city primary.

Collins polled 67,000 votes out of 123.796 east, according to an unofficial tally. City Councillor Gabriel F. Piemonte, with 27,433 votes, came in second, but Collins's decisive margin makes it almost certain that the mayor will win another four-year term in the final election Nov. 5.

Mrs. Louise Day Hicks, chairman of the school committee, topped the ballot with 63,103 votes, followed by committeemen Thomas Eisenstadt (62,590), Joseph Lee (62,263), and William O'Connor (42,795). All three have backed Mrs. Hicks in rejecting an NAACP charge of de facto segregation in Boston schools.

Arthur Gartland, the only committeeman to support the charge ran fifth with 30,315 votes. Melvin H. King, a South End-social worker campaigning with strong NAACP support, finished seventh to become one of the ten candidates who will vie for committee seats in November.

The city-council race, which had stirred only slight interest, ended predictably, with the seven incumbents qualifying to run in the final election. In the order in which they finished, they are: Peter F. Hines, William J. Foley. John Kerrigan, Christopher Ianella, Thomas A. Sullivan. William Coffey, and John Tierney.

Only one newcomer was among the top seven candidates in the returns. Eighteen candidates will ultimately vie for the nine places on the Council, which advises the mayor on urban renewal and can veto municipal expenditures.

In the mayoralty contest, City Councillor Patrick F. McDonough (26,211 votes), State Representative Julius Ansel (11,999), and William P. Foley (1120) followed Collins and Piemonte, None of them will be eligible for the November election.

Interviewed on television after results had been tabulated from the last of Boston's 275 precincts, Collins said he was "overwhelmed with gratitude for the people of Boston who came out to vote." The large turnout indicates that "people care about the way the city is run," he said.

He maintained that Piemonte still has a chance in November, although Collins' percentage of the vote today was the largest any mayoralty candidate has received since Boston's current primary system was instituted in 1951. "Every election contest is a fight," the mayor said, but added he was confident of victory.