The Evening Star. "THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1914.

Evening Star, Issue 15480, 30 April 1914, Page 4

The Evening Star. "THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1914.

Is the Duaedin mayoral election there was fortunately no inWhere Principles tnision of ths poliDccided. tics! wing of tlio Red

Federation into municipal affairs. We eay fortunately, not be- ! cause there need have been any fear as to 1 the result, but because there was no unnecessary stirring up of class feeling. But Christchurch. snd Wellington were not spared this experience, and the. result in each case is reassuring. In Christchurch Mr Holland was re-elected by almoefc a two to on© majority; :n Wellington Mr Luke secured a triumphant rote in an exceedingly heavy poll, having a very comfortable absolute majority indeed, while the Social Democrat candidate actually polled fewer votes than the "between course" man, Mr M'Laren. Both Mr Luke and Mr Holland, especially the former, actively upheld Government action in maintaining the rights of society against those who sought to wreck them dvring the strike. Their elections were fought on that issue, and their course of action has been unmistakably ratified by the people. Furthermore, the Social Democrat ticket got worsted at the Christchurch City Co-mci! elections, and to Mr Angland's alleged want of backbone during the waterfront trouble at Timarrt has been attributed his failure to secure re-election to the mayoral chair of that town. There is little use in laboring an obvious lesson. These elections have been watched as guides to the General Elections. If these latter are to be fought on the strike issue. as at present appears likely, Liberalism will either have to snap whatever threads still connects it, rightly or wrongly, with the strike movement—or, what is much the same thing, with opposition to the Government's repressive action —or else create some other overshadowing issue—-and this appears a difficult task. It k more pleasant to turn to other contesta where principles, though of purely local nature, and trivial perhaps when compared with, those affecting the existence of society, were at stake. There was a remarkably close fight at Green Island, We believe it is purely because of his attitude over drainage that Mr Geddes at length is being deposed from the mayoralty. Otherwise he held all the advantages of position. It is true that on election eve he sought to qualify his adherence to the parochial drainage scheme. But, as his opponent pointed out, the power he has exercised for the last 15 years has not led to any change from the primitive conditions from which Green Island strenuously desires to emerge. That fact, and the common belief that, asspite Mr GecTdes's protestations of his preference | for united action, it has virtually been ] so far thwarted largely through his predominance in the Green Island Borough Council, most have been telling factors against him. It is to be hoped that Green Island's co-operation in one comprehensive scheme for the Kaikorai Valley will be the immediate result of Cr Reeve's election, and that it will not come too late to avert the consequences of Green Island's previous aloofness, for on the part of the Dunedin Drainage Board disjointed action is being contemplated. At Mornington the election Tesolved itself into a question < of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the present administration, and the electors, by a fair majority, showed their conii-1 denoe in the present Council and their officers—a confidence which really seems well grounded. At Fort Chalmers Mr Mawson failed to secure an extension of his term, and though in some degree the result turned on a purely local aspect of the strike, Mr Scollay should prove a hard-working, conscientious, and levelheaded Mavor.

Tjan mayoral eleetio© p Punedm resulted in no surprise in The City the return of Mr J. B. Mayoralty. Shacklock, but it was certainly unexpected that he would receive an absolute majority of the votes recorded. The rather small proportion of these latter to the number on the roll reflects the unexciting character of the contest all through. It was a campaign pleasantly free from personalities, and with one exception no candidate identified himself and his cause with any outstanding principle or definite course of action if elected. The exception was Cr Green, who declared war a I'outrance on the Corporation electrical engineer. The fact that Cr Green occupied last place on the poll does not by any means imply vindication of Mr Stark; rather it stands as the record of a solid opinion that Cr Green was not the person either to declare war or to direct its operations. We feel forced to make these observations because of some illadvised remarks made from the Town Hall steps last night by Cr Green in ! justification of his candidature and in somewhat acid explanation of his defeat. He declared that the ratepayers had " thought it proper to turn down "an honest and straightforward ad- " ministration." This is somewhat in the "strain of a defeated Prime Minister. It implies a previous exercise of power by Cr Green, which has not been the case—particularly in regard to Waipori, to which the context shows him to have been specially alluding. It also implies that the administration to which the citizens are now committed will be the reverse of honest and straightforward. Nevertheless, in the next breath Cr Green announced that he would support it to the best of his power during the coming year. Cr Green was as unfortunate in taking defeat as he has been in his methods of seeking victory. The same cannot be said of Mr Belcher. He does not shut his eyes to plain facts. Last year his candidature mot with a most encouraging response; this year the* result was most discouraging. Mr Belcher admits that his stock lias slumped very considerably in the interim, and recognises that it is evident that the public require service in the rank and filo of the Council before conferring mayoral honors, though ho still considers the public wrong in this respect. Indeed, he has a semblance of argument on his side! Recent events have shown that in regard to certain important Corporation works councillors may bo as much in the dark as outsiders. And this is probably ono reason why Cr Marlow was not a closer second than he proved to be last night on the declaration of the poll. There was a feeling that if he did not know of the expenditure on the Berwick-Waipori road before he disclosed the position he should have known, and that if he did know of it before he should have spoken at onco. Perhaps what has happened may lead to a better state of things. That the Council need to alter their ideas, their general attitude, as well as their methods, was suggested during the discussion that followed Cr Marlow's disclosure in Council. He was congratulated on having had the courage to lay bare certain unpleasant facts, as though com'•••Jment <if such matters wero regarded ;•:• ilio normal thing in Council affairs. The sooner that that \v.-■-.■! <>f tooling ends the. better, and it is to be hoped that the incoming Mayor will use his experience in the particular department concerned, and will exert his authority in all departments, in the direction of clear light and full publicity at the Council table. What call should there be for any councillor to rise and express gratitude for the favor of being allowed to know something about the very matters the ratepayers sent him there to keep an eye on in their behalf ? Cr Marlow will retain the chairmanship of the Electric Power and Lighting Committee, and with him in that position and Mr Shacklock as Mayor (and also an ex officio member of that committee) we have real hopes of the affairs of this department being better controlled and more fully disclosed. Otherwise there will be need for the citizens to begin thinking seriously of pressing Mr Shacklock to endeavor to translate into action his confessed preference for commissioner control of municipal trading concerns. We congratulate him on his election to the mayoralty. Without, perhaps, some of the graces of the retiring Mayor, he is a solid worker, and we h/Spe to see his year of office marked by solid work in the Council. There is no denying that there is a wide field for it