The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929. THE VOICE OF 50 PER CENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 102, 2 May 1929, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1929. THE VOICE OF 50 PER CENT.

The 50 per cent of the electors of the city who took the trouble to vote yesterday gave a curious verdict on the administration of their affairs. They elected Mr. Baildon as Mayor, but they rejected five members of the late Council, and placed near the top of the poll a councillor who for some time had been conducting a campaign against the city administration. Among the rejected candidates were two of the most valuable members of the late Council. What might have happened had the Mayoral contest been confined to Mr. Baildon and Mr. Bloodworth or Mr. Yaile can only be surmised, but probably Mr. Baildon is not unmindful of the fact that in a four-sided contest in which some 24,000 votes were cast his majority was less than a thousand. Mi*. Baildon's success is attributable largely to his personal popularity, and probably also to the feeling that he was a "safe" man. He was assisted, however, by weaknesses in the opposition. Many voted for him not because they thought him an ideal Mayor, but because they were less attracted by his opponents. We congratulate him on his success in the face of vigorous and varied opposition. We are sure Ave are expressing the feeling of many of our readers when we add that he was materially assisted by the capacity, industry and popularity of the Mayoress, Mrs. Campbell.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that need* resistance For the future in the distance, And-the good that tee can do.

The most satisfactory feature'of the voting for the Council is the placing of Mr. G. W. Hutchison at the top of the poll. Mr. Hutchison is a 'capable and successful professional man with an attractive personality and hosts of friends, but he was a new candidate, and when all allowance is made for special factors that helped him, his is a noteworthy achievement. There were some curious acceptances and rejections. Mr. Allum owes his defeat largely to his association, with transport, over which question feeling has run high. When we say that he was a valuable councillor we do not endorse everything he has done. The Council cannot afford to lose a man of his capacity and experience, and possiblv somo of those who voted him out will ultimately realise that transport problems are not quite so easy of solution as they think. That certain candidates' should have been preferred to Mr. CrookeSj a man of wide experience and more ideas than the average councillor, is regrettable and puzzling. AH one •can say of the new Council as a whole is that it may be more, capable than the old one. It is as if the people had conferred on the old Council the Order of Confidence —of the second or third class. When full allowance is made for the difficulties of voting—difficulties which should engage the attention of the new Council —tho apathy of the public is deplorable. Tho election campaign was a lively one, and it should have been plain to everyone that the city was facing difficult problems, yet only half of those on the roll voted. Apparently the percentage of those who rendered this elementary service to democracy was less than it was two years ago. It looks as if nothing short of a municipal earthquake would stir electors out of their somnolence.