THE CHARITABLE AID BOARD ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 283, 26 November 1908, Page 4

THE CHARITABLE AID BOARD ELECTIONS.

Our readers are probably tired of the very name of elections just now, but we hope that they can spare a little attention for the remarkable system by which the members of our Charitable Aid Board are chosen. Of the eleven members composing tho Board chosen yesterday, four were elected by the Auckland City Council, and the balance

by various compound constituencies, Parnell and Grey Lynn Borough Councils combine to elect one, Eden County has two members chosen by its Road Boards, Onehungii Borough Council joins with the Manuknu Road Boards to elect two more, and the remaining two are chosen on an even more complicated plan. One constituency is composed of the Rodney and Waitemata County Councils- and the Devonport Borough Council, and the other consists of Mt. Eden, Newmarket,

and Birkenhead; but, whereas in the former constituency each of the local bodies lias one vote, in the latter, Mt. Eden has four votes against the other two. The natural result is that ilt. Eden controls the elections for this constituency, and Birkenhead and Xevrmarfcet are practically disfranchised. But this rnjustice is a small matter compared with the other absurd anomalies in which the present system abounds. It is very difficult to understand on what principle the constituencies have been formed. Why, for example, is Tarnell bracketed with Grey Lynn on the other side of the city; while Newmarket, Parnell's next-door neighbour, is coupled with Birkenhead on the other side of the harbour? Why, again, is Devonport practicalh' a suburb of Auckland, compelled to vote with country districts, with the result that, in the present instance, it is represented by a country resident who lives a long way from Auckland? Why are Onehunga and the Mariukau Road Boards required to vote for two members collectively, rather than for one each separately? The answer to these queries must be left for departmental wisdom. But, considering that the principle of popular election is supposed to be carried out as far as possible in the appointment of our Charitable Aid Boards, it is surely advisable to arrange the constituencies in such a way that the electors voting together shall have something like community, of local interests to guide them. At present, as we have shown no fixed principle of combination is followed, and the result is altogether confusing and unsatisfactory. The Charitable Aid Board itself must have already felt the difficulties of the position enough to justify it in representing the case as strongly as possible in the proper quarter; and our political representatives should tie, prepared to take action in Parliament to rectify , these glaring Inconsistencies.