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Evening Star, Issue 14318, 17 March 1910, Page 4

Oru rather pessimistic surmise regarding the amount of interest Yesterday’s likely to bo displayed at Polling. tho first elections under the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act has been more than justified by tho event. Certainly it is unsatisfactory that only about 12 per cent, of tho electors on the roll should have taken tho trouble to record their votes, and it will not be surprising if cynical criticism concerning the policy of the Act and tho worth of tho representative principle is forthcoming from some quarters. Nevertheless, disappointing as tho result undoubtedly is, wo still think that tho remarks wo made on Tuesday aro applicable to tho situation. No issue of importance was at stake, and tho .bulk of the electors felt that the return of a suitable Hoard did not really depend upon their exercise of the franchise. Tho senso of a distinct duty in such matters—-the obligation of going to the polling-booth, apart from tho particular interests involved—is a development of civic virtue that has not yet been reached; but wo repeat, that tho mere existence of the franchise is a valuable asset, so to speak, and calculated to exert a stimulating effect upon tho administrative action of the Board. The members aro directly responsible to tho electors, and they will not be able to count upon a repetition of yesterday's sluggishness if matters of controversy should arise in connection with future elections. Tho composition of tho new Board promises a term of capable and sagacious administration; and, with tho assistance to bo derived from tho use of the cooperative principle in tho appointment of committees, there is every reason to believe that tho management of tho hospital and tho kindred agencies of active benevolence will be characterised by sound senso and (if tho phrase is permissible) businesslike huinamtarianism. 'Our confidence in tho principles underlying Mr Fowlds’s Act is not materially impaired by the insignificant extent of yesterday’s polling.