Voter turnout

Came across this snippet from 1938 which showed a voter turnout in Wellington of 89 percent.

"...a surprising number of people on the rolls for the six Wellington seats and Hutt did not record their votes in the General Election October 15."

Did the writer express surprise because the turnout was lower than previous?

Today's Wellington and Hutt electorates voter turnout is 81 percent.

He'd be flabbergasted at the national 74 percent turnout - less than three quarters (with 58 percent in the Maori electorates.)