TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 78, 1 April 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

A coyness has come upon a number of Wellington citizens The Mayoralty, -whom various sections have deemed worthy ot Mayoral honours — and work. Each aeka to be excused, each is grateful for the compliment of an invitation, but each finds himself otherwise engaged Hence the position still goes begging, with the election less than four weeks away. The deputations, public and private, have interviewed many men, but they have not exhausted the list of eligible citizens. Wo can name one, Mr. J. P. Luke, whose length of service to the public of Wellington should give him a strong claim to the support of all classee. it ho can be persuaded to offer himeeif. Mr. Luke wae senior councillor when he retired, in 1910, and at that time he expresßed a hope that some day he would be able to figure again in the municipal sphere. It seems that an opportunity has como. He was a member of the council during the important period of the development of Greater Wellington. He has been one of the workeis vho ha,\e assisted valuably with tho policy ot enlarging th* *»po of civic (t'ctivitjee h«iti. He hae the experience,, thg

knowledge, and the character to make him a worthy president of the citizens' council. Even with Mr. Luko agreeing to bo nominated, we should prefer an election to a. "walk-over." Candidates are naturally eager to escape a contest if they can, but a strenuous fight is good for the public. It compels a useful stocktaking, an educative review of the past, and some regard for the future. A keen Mayoral election, void of personalities but full of manful treatment of public enterprises and propo sals, would bo a distinct benefit to Greater Wellington. la a proper public spirit, the Welling. „n , . , ton City Council Plumping." wishes tho next Muni- ., . cipal Conference to use »ta influence to check the practice of plumping" at local elections. It is suggested that voting papers not containing a full quota of names of candidates ishould be declared informal. We are not surprised that the City Council I s U ? B «, g e J ucn an amendment of the Local Elections Act. Tho appointment of councillors for Greater Wellington specially lends itself to "plumpinjr " as the council is elected in one T)i« group. In Greater Christchurch the ward system reduced th© "plumping" evil, but we have no desire to see Wellington agitating for the ward system, which makev for parochialism, local jealousies, and petty sectional bargaining detrimental to the public interest as a whole. Wellington offers an easy held to tho manipulator of "tickets/ a«d it is pc-Esible for a well-orgahised minority to be absurdly over-represent-ed by the "plumping 1 * process. It is imaginable that "plumping" can do good occasionally by helping the community to get the services of men who are not brilliant eelf-advertisore, but are solid workers. However, "plumping, ' in general, is aa evasion of the full responsibility of citissen*hip, which orders a conscientious sifting of all on a ballot paper, and a vote for a full C 0^ ncl k Tfi « r « fore > we agree heartily with the principle of Wellington's remit to the Municipal Conference, but we should prefer to have the proposed amendment considered with others in a fcomprehensive Teform of electoral law, on a basis of proportional representation for general politics. This study of electoral problems will be one of the first duties of a stable Government. We do not anticipate that much will be done till the country hu& a Government with a working majority. Mrs. Despard is a Suffragette of some . notoriety. Her name A Despard suggests derrmg-doi in to the. Rescue, the manner of books „ ■, , , beloved by boys, but^ abhorred by their nervous parents, and Mrs. Despard has been a doer. She Is annoyed, naturally, with the rejection of the Women's Suffrage Conciliation Bill which, as we have explained, was more, a proposal for "Suffragettes" than for women, and she yearns to make man rue the rebuff suffered by London's hysterical "revolutionaries." She has advocated a comprehensive sort of boycott, designed to irritate and_ distress all manner of men, especially ""male milliners" and anti-suffrage (more accurately antisuffragette) members of the sea-side resorts. These resorts, if Mrs. Despard has her way, will not be troubled with mixed bathing nor with mixed promenades nor seances in the moonlight. Bomance is to fly on rapid wing from the shores and sands represented by opponents of the claw-hammer Amazons. 1^ is a different case with the "male milliners." One of the latest messages hints that Mrs. Despard is taking an opportunity to popularise hatlessness per the Suffragettes who are eaid tp be considering her recommendation. Mrs. Dcj)pai'd herself has been boycotting the "male milliners" for some time. She affects a mantilla, with which Spanish women know how to fascinate. We do not know whether Mrs. Despard has a Spanish eye and mien. So for she and her help-mates have preferred an attempt to conquer man with sticks, stones, brickbats, and claw-hammers, rather than with heart-piercing shafts from, merry, roguish eyes. Another message state* that the Irish members, who sentenced the Bill to death, are threatened with stern reprisals. They are faced with a set-back for Home Rule if they fail to acknowledge the power and majesty of the * Suffragettes. The noisy Sisterhood i« not turning the other cheek to the foe.