MUST BE HELD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 101, 1 May 1941, Page 11

MUST BE HELD

MR. HISLOP'S STAND

- The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop) has several times during the campaign referred to the small attendances at suburban halls. That did not concern him, nor surprise him, for they had. experienced the same thing at many elections, if they looked back they would remember that often small meetings were followed by big polls, and ■if their: supporters played their parts the poll this year would again fee substantial, and successful for Citizens' candidates. Small meetings, again, .were certainly.,a reflection of the>.,,sati&faptiqn> : ;;Of ..the: electors with the sound and- sensible way in .which' ■the city's' affairs had .been carried ©n during the last three years, when more work- had. been done than in any other three-year period, rates had not been raised, and the.. city's net indebtedness had been substantially reduced by sinking fund redemptions.

.It was. the duty of the retiring Mayor and councilors and ;of the members of the Hospital Board and Harbour Board to ; give the electors an accounts, of-. their stewardship and to answer questions which citizens wished to ask. How, other than at public meetings in the city and suburbs, could that be done?.

On the question of whether or not the local elections should be cailed off this year, Mr. Hislop has taken the firm stand that they must be held. It was the right of the people to say who should be their representatives— it certainly was not the right of the sitting Mayor, councillors, and members of Hospital and Harbour Boards to say that the • citizens were satisfied with them.

Further, what was meant by those who said the elections should be postponed? If they meant this year that would simply mean postponing the inevitable for twelve months. If they, meant during the war, what period could anyone forecast? It was the democratic right of the people to say who should be their representatives, and the only sensible course "was, as the New Zealand Municipal Conference and. the Government had both decided, to hold the elections.' The war effort, of course, was paramount, but city activity and development must go on. ;

• "The city's life and work and its courage to carry on in the face of difficulty and travail will, in fact, very vitally affect this city's contribution to New Zealand's war work," is his summing up.