Election Pledges.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19669, 12 July 1929, Page 10

Election Pledges.

| In the House of Representatives on j Wednesday a protest by the Post- | master-General, the Hon. Mr Donald, j against the signing of pledges by canj didates for Parliament induced the j member for Waitemata, Mr Harris, j to attempt a justification of this prac- ; tice. Mr Harris seemed to think that j because the public have a right to ask a candidate where he stands on certain ! subjects, and are entitled to a reply. ! thcv have a right to bind him, and that j he in fact binds himself by giving an | ansvrer. This, of course, is a complete ! misunderstanding of the whole position. ! Electors and organisations are quite entitled to ask a candidate for his views on public questions of importance, and the candidate should answer if he is able. But if he is wise and honest he will state his opinion and at the same time refuse to commit himself to support any measure not specified in the programme of his Party. If he does commit himself he is betraying his ' Party and failing to fulfil the more general obligation which every candidate accepts—the obligation to offer himself as a representative of the people and not as the delegate of a particular interest. If a candidate gets himself endorsed by a political Party—and that endorsement is worth much to him—he must in common honesty leave himself free to support that Party and not bargain for the support of sectional interests. Pledgehunting seems to have become a recognised part of elections in this country, but it is hard to know why the Party organisations have tolerated it for so long. Before the recent election in Great Britain the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal headquarters agreed to instruct their candidates not to answer questionnaires from outside their own constituencies and not to receive deputations except from their own electors. That, of course, is not a complete remedy for the evil of pledges, but it is at least a beginning. Next election, perhaps, the New Zealand Parties will see the expediency of expelling any member who pledges himself to any cause or interest outside his own Party allegiance.