The Press. Monday, April 28, 1919. The Municipal Elections.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16508, 28 April 1919, Page 6

The Press. Monday, April 28, 1919. The Municipal Elections.

'Although the municipal elections are only two days distant, there are few signs that the public are as deeply interested in the contests as they ought to be. It is necessary that the position and its dangers should bo clearly -understood. The Labour Party aims at securing control of the Council and hopes to capture the Mayoralty. • This party is lass the party of the rational workingman than the harbourage oT every kind of anti-social crank, from the revolutionary Socialist down to the frank disloyalist of the kind that appeared at a recent deputation to the Hon. Mr Russell. If this were kept clearly in mind by the public, we have no doubt that the Mayoral chair and a majority of tho seats in the Council would bo beyond the reach of these extremists. But there is a real risk that the public may find itself very grossly misrepresented in the government of the city, and it is proper that that risk should be roalised. The extremists are well organised, and, like i all extremists, they will permit nothing ,to prevent them from polling their full strength. The normal citizen is at 'the disadvantage of not being a fanatic, and ordinarily is very apt to omit his ;tiuty of voting. Whcn 4 however, the conditions make it easy for him to vote, as when polling-day is a holiday, and when circumstances force upon hia attention the true character of the forces guiding the Labour Party, ho is seen to bo numerous enough to protect ithe interests of the city. This was jtho case when Mr McCombs challenged \Mr Holland in 1917 and was defeated Jby more than tiro to one. On Wednesday, however, there is no holiday, ■nnd the ending of the war has probably dulled tho edge of the public's rememfbrance of the reason why the citizens [then rose up and so emphatically conl demned Mr McCombs's claim to preside (over tho city's government.

■ Has anything occurred during the , past two years to cause the public to \ revise its estimate of Mr McCombs's for tho Mayoral office. We ■ know of nothing. On tho contrary, ' there have been two years available ; for Mr McCombs to revise his own atti r l tude towards the war and towards the , spirit of the people, towards which he ! was bo acutely unsympathetic, and he j'has done nothing in those two years to jgive the public any reason to regret [their judgment of two years ago. The • public must not forget, now that the war is over, the "dignified neutrality" of Mr McCombs and his fellow-Red Feds. .It is the spirit that matters, i and tho spirit which was unhelpful and | obstructive in the days when the Em- [ piro was straining every nerve for the

defeat of Prussianism cannot be expected to# work to the people's advantage now that victory has come. Some of the J/abour candidates havo actually been imprisoned on various charges of sedition, and not one of them lifted a finger during the war to assist this country to carry out its task. To £ive tho mayoralty and a majority of the seats in tho Council to those . who treated the loyal efforts of tho Dominion as mere folly or knavery, would be hardly more repugnant to commonsenso—we say nothing of propriety— than to place tho Kaiser and a committee of members of the old Herrenhnus of Pmsia in charge of the League of .Nations. We might bare stressed to-day the obvious enough fact, which Jew people will dispute, that tho management of the city's business calls fcr capable and level-headed men. and that, although sound heads and brainy administration has in other countries, ant! even on occasion in this country, come up from the ranks oi organised Labour, no rational person would associate those virtues with tho' candidates the Labour party is putting for ward. Hut more important than other considerations is the necessity that the public shall not so stultify itself as to enable the cranks and ex- | tremists to mako the unfounded claim, as they would claim if they were victorious. that they are the true representatives of public ooinion.

Mr .tfrC'run lis is assisted very greatly by the candidature of Dr. Thacker, who stands aa Die representative of only a section of the people, and that a soction which does not require representation- on the Council any mora than on tho Education Board. Wo hepe that those citizens who favour the Port Christclniroh scheme will realise that they cannot- benefit their cause by voting for Dr. Thacker. They will only split tho voting strength of the loyal and rational majority, which, if it goes unbroken to Mr Dougall, will preserve the city from such an affliction as Mr McCombs in tho mayoral chair. It is said that the Prohibitionists intend to support Mr McCombs, but we can hardly believe this. "Without their support Mr McCombs could not succeed, but with it he would doubtless bo elected, and lcoen though they aro for their cause, and for all who support it, they will hardly bo so foolish as to join with the Red Fed extremists and thp disloyal element against tho loyal and rational people who intend to vote for Mr Dougall, whoso record of public work in the past four years contrasts so sharply with that of either of his opponents. In view of this splitting of the votes that- will be cast against Mr McCombs, it is the duty of every citizon to record his vote —to meet the extremists' determination with a determination no less strong, to securo that the city's affairs shall be in dependable hands, and that the Prince of "Wales and Lord Jellicoe, a soldier and a sailor who did their part in tho war, shall not have to roceive the city's welcome at the hands of one whose attitude during the war was that of the Red Fed candidate.