The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1923. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 18252, 17 April 1923, Page 4

The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 1923. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS.

" Leave out Bartholomew, for ho did little, and put in Gavin Dishart, was tho advice given in Thrums to those who would recall tho twelve Apostles. Whom to leave out and whom to put in will bo a more difficult problem for tho electors of Dunedin to decide when they have to elect n new City Council of twelve members next week out of twenty-five candidates, including tho present mayor and seven present councillors, who have been nominated tor tho positions. Tho more number of tho candidates docs not speak of civic apathy. So far as quality is concerned, it is not a brilliant galaxy which the choice suggests; but consolation will bo found, doubtless, in tho fact that it might bo worse. There are some sitting councillors who will be easily and quickly reelected, but electors as a body will show themselves more satisfied with tho control of their affairs by others than recent criticisms of one or two departments have indicated them to be if all the present fathers who aro eligible for that honor should be rewarded by it. Ye aro not enamored of the “ ticket system in elections, but the “ ticket ” of tho Citizens League offers some new blood which deserves to be availed of in tho fullest degree. That of tho Labor Representation Committee raises more questions. They will bo very " class-conscious citizens and few in number, we suspect—who will feel inclined to take its half-dozen of candidates at a gulp. For class-conscious-ness is the last thing that, in called for in a municipal governing body which has never been accused of having an aristocratic tinge, and which exists for the-con-trol of local prosaic business in which the interests of all classes are tno same. If tho Labor Party can put forward men who on their own merits promise to bo more efficient administrators of the city’s great trading departments, for example, and to have a truer vision of its prosperity than those who might rest their claim upon greater experience of business, it would bo a pity for them not to ho elected. But a mere flair for destructive criticism, when that happens to be shown, affords no evidence of constructive ability, and there is an awkward ambiguity as Well which attaches to the candidature of these Labor nominees. It is natural to suppose that, if any of them are* elected, they will bo servants of the Labor Representation Committee first of all, and only of the citizens afterwards. Will tho committee, part of the organisation of Mr Holland’s political party, judge their first duty to be tho advancement of tho intercuts of tho city, or does it and would its candidates regard tho council table chielly as a new, alluring rostrum from which they might preach Socialism with new advantages? In that case a council “ticket” which the Reform or Libera] Party might put forward would have as much claim to the support of municipal voters. The will not put a Communist into the council to explain how he would destroy it if he had the chance; Mrs Leech’s candidature makes hs own appeal; and tho other independent aspirants we shall know more about when addresses are made by them to the electors.

Three candidates, of whom only one can bo elected, for the mayoralty make even more a plethora,, proportionately, than twenty-fivo for tho council. Messrs Hayward, Larnach, and Tapley, who are standing for tho principal position, are all of them well known to the electors. The choice amongst them must be made on purely personal grounds, unless rival policies, of which there is yet no hint, should be revealed before the election. The retiring mayor, Air Douglas, has not had yet all the thanks from the citizens that are due to him. No mayor ever served them more whole-heartedly or gave more of his time to their business. It is certain that ho never spared himself in his devotion to their interests, and in that respect ho lias sot a hard task for any successor. Mr Douglas received many Invitations to submit himself for another term of office, and ho would have received far more if that had not seemed to entail the prospect of four candidates for the chief magistracy, which would have made the issue quite too much of a gamble, besides presenting the greatest of all inducements to the Labor Party to put up a nominee at tho last moment whose qualifications would have been unlikely to be impressive. As it turned out, Air Douglas might have stood again, as we understand, in a field of three, but he preferred to seek a change after his two years of hard work in the comparatively restful office of a councillor. As an acknowledgment of his past untiring services he should certainly bo returned high up on the list. There will bo elections for the Harbor Board and Hospital Board as well as for the council on Thursday week. The electors should know more of local governing institutions when they aro finished.