A TO Z.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 103, 4 May 1925, Page 6

A TO Z.

fan any definite, connection lie estab-lish,-,1 between the name of a municipal candidate and his prospects of election? Wo referred the other day to the possibility thai some candidates owed their election tr, their position on the voting list. A (hristchur.il investigator in ■ a letter lo "The Press." puts tiiis forward as entile a serious consideration. j : His idea is that the elector begins at , the top of a long list of council candi- ' dates, and exhausts his options hy the time lie is half way through, eon- I ■ serpieutly lite candidates at the bottom I are left out in the cold. We should - say tbat s,,me voters choose candidates I ;at top and bottom, because these i localities attract them, and ignore tbe j • middle of Hi,' li.-t. However. this ■ I'hristchiiroh writer funis that of the i sixteen candidates elected for the City - ( citncil on Wednesday the names of , four began with "A." two with "31," and throe « iib "C." He divides the I i alphabet into two purls, A to L, and \ ■ M to V.. an,l finds thai in lite lirst half ■ . twelve candidates wero elected and ' thr -eje, 'oil. ami iv the second half ■f. .111- were elected nnd eight rejected.: : He has al- , examined the Auckland li.-t.! I taking A to M as tlie lirst section. f • and says thai sixteen of the successful ' candidates were in the first half of the . alphabet and five in the second. In ' Wellington the figure* were twelve and • three. There may be, therefore, t some reason to suppose that be i who is named Adams, or Brown, or ; Cooper (we take tbe names at. ran- ) donil has a somewhat better chance of r being elected than one called Malcolm ,or Taylor .o Wilson. Party organisers should note this. Tin- 1 I'ibour party > should revise its list of candidates so ' that all or most of them are within the favoured alphabetical section. Hue . .an even imagine an ambitious father reflecting sadly on bis son's future. 1 "!!,- h.-.s all ibe qualities for public , life. leu. alas, his name is Terry, anil , be v ill c noticed among the ruck j . at the bottom of the list." A much wider I investigation is needed, however, before - .1 dclinitc , lusion can be drawn. ! ; Perhaps some student will take it up . for 11 degree lliesis. He might extend bis impiiry 1,, tin- general influence of names. Doe- "Vavasour" impress the - elector moil' than "liloggs"': Are women 1 vuteisi influenced by aristocratic or! .- romantic at 1111 sphere in unities. The main thing to ascertain, however, is whether the alphabetical ' order of surnames counts f,,.. 1 much. whether the fiv-t tiling v candidate has to do is to clioo.se his family judiciously. If there i- rlelini'o ' proof of this, democracy "ill have to do f something about it. for it is plainly . intolerable that the "A's" should have the advantage over th,- "Z's" merely l through an accident of birth.