The Evening Star TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1938. THE ELECTOR’S DUTY.

Evening Star, Issue 22953, 10 May 1938, Page 8

The Evening Star TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1938. THE ELECTOR’S DUTY.

Thebe is one duty • that must be impressed to-day upon every elector. It is the duty' to vote. The last municipal, elections showed a record poll for larger ness, but that still left much wanting from, the merely arithmetical point of view. Out of 37,2?8 persons on the roll 27,693 voted, or something over 74 per cent. The fact that we wish to impress is that nearly ten thousand did not vote, though there is no reason to suppose that they had less reason to be concerned for the city’s good government and efficient administration than the others. We know- of one very well qualified candidate who did not fail that time by a long margin who, at the approach of the present elections, thought this in itself a sufficient reason why he should not stand again. “ Why should I take so much trouble,” he explained, " after what happened last time, when ten thousand electors were not sufficiently interested to vote.” The reflection was a natural one, which should not be invited again. It is natural to suppose that not more than a minority of those who failed to enter a polling booth were’ supporters of the Labour Party. Nobody has ever decried that party’s organisation. Nobody* has ever suspected it of lack of zeal. It is due, then, that those who do not believe in its mixing up of local administration with general politics, who do not believe in caucus rule, to whom Labour candidates, taken by and large, do not appear as the men most fitted by experience to administer the huge business concerns of a city, and who think that a continuation of the principles that have recently been exemplified in city government would be bad for the city, should take at least as much care to register their votes as those on the other side. Caucus rule has been defined as “ the deciding of public business by a section of the members of a local body at secret meetings instead of by all members in open meeting.” It is obviously a system more conducive to party than to city ends. At the last three general elections the proportions of those on the roll who voted were 88, 83, and 90 per cent. There seems no reason why those figures should not be reached by municipal polls. ‘‘ Party ” is merely an intrusion—and a bad one—in these contests, but as party tickets for all the seats to be filled have been issued by. the Labour side, and will be followed without doubt by the great bulk of its voters, no room is left for chivalry, or what otherwise would be broadmindedness, or mere natural methods, by those

opposed to its policy. They cannot afford to do otherwise than adhere as closely to the ticket of the Citizens’ Association, with the assurance that by doing so they are not confirming party divisions. The best thing about the Citizens’ Association is that, once it has fulfilled its purpose of meeting organisation with organisation for the conduct of the polls themselves, it ceases to exist. The greatest error that could be entertained by a Labour man is that there is any natural element of class difference in these contests for Dunedin local bodies. There is not a stranger to the city who, if he were taken for a walk down Princes street, would think of dividing its frequenters between workers and “ nabobs.” If he saw any who might remind him (after a suggestion) of the latter class, they would certainly not be numerous enough to influence voting. The candidates of the Citizens’ blue ticket state: “ We stand for the wise expenditure of public moneys , for the benefit of all sections of the community. We stand for the welfare and happiness of all citizens, irrespective of class, creed, or politics.” Those.statements should be the only conceivable basis of a programme.