Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1950. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 71, Issue 35, 21 November 1950, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1950. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

The former Minister of Finance, and the acting-leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party, the Rt. Hon. W. Nash, has attempted to make political capital out of the local body elections, but nobody will be taken in by this. Mr Nash said: “The remarkable success of Labour candidates at the local election polls on Saturday is the culmination of growing resentment against the Government and the disillusionment of the last 11 months.” Coming - from a man like Mr Nash, with his long experience of public affairs, such a statement is, to say the least of it, childish. There is no connection whatever between local and national politics, although Labour has all along endeavoured to tie them up. Local body elections have never yet proved a guide to the result of a national poll, nor have they in any way reflected the attitude of the public toward the conduct, of the affairs of the country. How could they ? The manner in which a city, borough or county council conducts its business has no relationship to the manner in which the country is governed. The Labour Party for years ihave endeavoured to gain control in municipal affairs, particularly since 1935, but with the exception of the main centres, they have not been successful. In these places there exist Citizens’ Associations which have been in the habit of nominating “tickets” in the same manner as has the Labour Party- and the election battles have been fought mainly between the two. In the smaller centres Labour has usually nominated several candidates, both for mayoralties and councils, and while they have been known to be Labour supporters they have not stressed the election as a fight between Labour and the National Party, which at the moment is the Government. The Dominion president of the National Party, before this election, went to the trouble of stressing that the party was not interested in any candidates, nor was it in any way associated with Citizens’ Associations. The Labour people themselves are the only ones who have tied up the Citizens’ Associations with the National Party, and because of some Labour successes, have used it to argue that the fall of Citizens’ Association candidates has been due to “growing resentment against the Government and the disillusionment of the last 11 months.” One case only need be quoted to show the futility of this argument, and that is the Mayoralty of Auckland, where Sir John Allum, an independent, beat both Labour and Citizens’ Association candidates. Mr Nash also said: “The result brings to thousands of electors the hope that the day draws nearer when they can rid themselves of the Nationalists and their privileged legislation.” Is there one single piece of Nationalist legislation on the books of s. city, borough or county council in the Dominion? There couldnt be, so Mr Nash’s remarks again are childish. The truth of the matter probably is that the Labour supporters made a point of voting, which is to their credit, while other citizens showed their customary indifference to matters of local moment. Such be- : ing the case, they deserve the type of local control they get.