The Press SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1956. The Duty to Vote

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28128, 17 November 1956, Page 10

The Press SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1956. The Duty to Vote

A democracy, for its proper functioning, exacts certain duties from jits citizens. The most important of these is the duty of each individual to participate in his or her own government. Relatively few citizens can serve on public bodies or in Parliament; but all can help to ensure that those who are elected to such office are in fact as well as in name the representatives of the people. By discharging their responsibility to vote at elections, citizens serve the common welfare. In this country, and in many others, local body polls do not arouse the interest created by elections for the central government. However, good local government is just as necessary as good national administration. It controls many of the day-to-day amenities of society, touches even more intimately the home surroundings of the people, and is required to interpret the enactments of the Legislature in the best interests of its constituents.

Throughout New Zealand today, electors will go to the polls to choose city, borough, and county councils, as well as their hospital, harbour, and catchment board representatives. In the Christchurch area, election meetings have been poorly attended, but ample publicity, by various means, has been given to the candidates’ policies and opinions. Electors still have the responsibility of forming their own opinions, assessing the fitness of candidates, and then voting intelligently according to their convictions. Saturday polling, adequate booth facilities, and the statutory provisions for sick, absentee, and postal voting leave no excuse for default. The size of previous Christchurch municipal polls does not justify any complacency about the standard of electoral responsibility. In the Mayoral election of 1953, 49,930 of the 81,668 electors voted; in 1950, the votes totalled 36,910; in 1947, 41,581; and in 1944. only 36,467. Recent events in Europe have re-emphasised—if that was necessary—the value of democracy in a free country. Only by putting democracy into practice, by fulfilling his responsibilities under it, can the average New Zealander ensure its permanent stability. , »