"NOT DESIRABLE"

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 52, 30 August 1945, Page 9

"NOT DESIRABLE"

SOLO PARTY NOMINATIONS

Questioned by Mr. G. W. Hutchison, a member of the Royal Commission on Licensing, yesterday on the subject of nominations by a political party for unopposed appointments to local licensing committees, Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., Hamilton, said •he did not consider it a desirable practice. Referring to earlier statements by Mr. Paterson to the Commission, Mr. Hutchison asked how the Labour Party was in a'position to provide candidates to fill committee vacancies instead of having. an election for the position as provided for by the statute. Mr. Paterson said it was a common practice for the committee to be agreed upon. There had been no election for the licensing committee in Hamilton for many years. '•'ls not the result of this informal procedure that any person who does not secure the approval of the party cannot become a member of a committee?" asked Mr. Hutchison. Did' not the people think a licensing election was worth bothering about? Did not Mr. Paterson think that it was- contrary to the spirit of the Act to have vacancies filled by unopposed party nominees?

"The general public is simply not interested," replied Mr. Paterson. "However, if a vacancy occurs in a local body it is common to have only one nomination, and no election is held."

Mr. Hutchison: Could you not take steps to prohibit in some way this prearrangement of candidates? Mr. Paterson: Much the same thing is done for Parliamentary candidates sometimes.

But don't you think this political nomination of candidates is undesirable?—l think it is very undesirable. The licensing committee is purely a local affair and any appointment should be by the local people, not by a political party. Do you think it desirable to have any interested party, like the prohibition party, interesting itself in selecting candidates?— No. I don't think it is desirable to have any parties having a hand in such affairs, but the fact is that wherever there is an issue there will be parties. Men may have been elected unopposed to the committee, added Mr. Paterson, but he would not say it was an "arranged" committee. He reiterated that the public showed little interest in licensing committee elections.

Mr. Hutchison suggested that more votes would be cast if the elections were held at the same time as other local body elections.