The Press FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1950. Local Elections

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26266, 10 November 1950, Page 6

The Press FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1950. Local Elections

The Citizens’ Association candidates for various local bodies'impressively opened their campaign on Wednesday evening, and effectively answered questions raised by their Labour Party opponents. The intrusion of national political party politics into local affairs was rightly deplored by the chairman of the general committee of the Citizens’ Association (Mr H. A. C. North), who pointed out that the main reason for the existence of the association was the selection of suitable candidates who were willing to give their experienced services for the benefit of the city. Party politics have no real place in local body affairs. Men of ability and goodwill of whatever shade of political opinion should be able to serve the city's interests without reference to party, and should be elected for their capacity and integrity. Rightly, again, Mr North pointed to the difficulty, indeed, the impossibility, of one man being able to perform efficiently the duties of Mayor or city councillor and at the same time do his work as a member of Parliament. He emphasised the point effectively in giving figures of the attendances at City Council committee meetings of present councillors who are also members of Parliament. As Mr North said, a great deal of the work of the council is done on its various committees, and, obviously enough, if .a man is absent from the city for a great part of the year he cannot efficiently do his job as a councillor. This particularly applies to the position of Mayor, much of whose worlj, as Mr Macfarlane has tacitly admitted, must be done in his absence by his, deputy. That can be satisfactory neither to the electors nor to the Mayor himself. The Mayor bf any city is required to be available at all times if prompt decisions are to be made and his duties as first teitizen efficiently performed. An effective opening speech was made by the Citizens’ Association’s Mayoral candidate, Mr W. S. Mac Gibbon, who has given many years of service to the city in a numbar of capacities. He made the good point that the City Council is a very large business concern, handling a revenue of over a million and threequarter pounds, and that the efficient management of such a concern is of first importance to its shareholders, as represented by the ratepayers. As Mr Mac Gibbon emphasised, if the revenue of the council is to be spent wisely men of business experience, trained in economical management, are needed to give citizens value for their money. This is particularly important in a time of rising costs, when the city is facing a period of intense development, and when the City Council may be called upon to undertake much heavier responsibilities.