The Press SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1962. Importance Of City Election

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29952, 13 October 1962, Page 10

The Press SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1962. Importance Of City Election

Electors should exercise their votes today at the local polls, because all are directly concerned by the decisions, large and small, taken by various boards and councils. In spite of the great powers of the central Government local authorities still have functions of great importance and still raise and spend large revenues. This general observation is no more and no less true today than it has been on other occasions; but citizens of Christchurch have particular reason this year to vote in the municipal elections. The new City Council will have momentous responsibilities for the future of Christchurch. During its term the regional master transportation plan will have to be drawn up; and during the term a start should be made on it. This is the key to almost every aspect of town planning; without it industries, homes, schools, hospitals, parks, and all public amenities cannot be properly sited or developed. The hew City Council will have to begin on the town hall and civic square project, which has caught the imagination of the people. This project should be tackled

immediately with energy and enthusiasm. For these two tasks alone the city needs, and the electors should choose, the best men and women available. A stock reason (or excuse) for failure to vote at local elections is that long lists of names are confusing. The conscientious elector need not be worried. If he has no interest in rival groupings, he will at least know some of the candidates. If he can find among: them no more than one that he feels able to support, it is still his duty to vote for that candidate. Such a ballot paper is far from wasted. Enough like it could decide the elections. It has been a reproach to New Zealand citizenship that so few electors have had sufficient interest in their own business, about which they know a great deal, to vote at local elections, though they are prepared to vote on national issues, about which they may know little. This is a reproach that should be removed today. Electors owe it to themselves to choose their own government; they owe it to their representatives to give them the backing of declared public support.