VOTING DILEMMAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20244, 2 May 1929, Page 16

VOTING DILEMMAS.

REFLECTIONS OP BROWN.

CHOICE 0F COUNCILLORS.

BY ELIMINATION.

PUBLIC APOLOGY OFFERED. "Thirteen and a-hnlf minutes by the watch," said Brown, "and another 20 before I escaped from the voting booth. There was a man, for instance, an elderly stranger, who was waiting for one of the triangular contraptions in which tho courageous voter hides himself to prevent his neighbour knowing what his ,I'ight hand doeth, to bo vacated. I mean to say that this elderly man was waiting for a chance to settle down with his blno crayon—who spoke to me without an invitation. Obviously he was feeling stress of mind, an excitement, because -Ti o self-respecting Aucklander would dream of speaking to an unknown burigess in a voting booth, or drinking booth, or. church, or tram, unless ho was under tile influence of something that robbed 'him of his due measure of reserve.

'Well,' he said to me, 'Look at it—2ft. long. And I remember the time when we used to go through the city, pleading yith mon who would not stand for the council. For years and years it was the -problem to get enough men to stand for election. Now we have 67, without counting the Harbour Board and the Hospital jßoard and the Mayoralty." He sadly . (wagged his head and wondered if all i>vas well with tho State of Auckland. The Initial Slaughter. ••" "Yes. Thirteen and a-lialE minutes to pet through the job, I may bo slow. I heard of ono business man upon whom - it- time was kept and he took five mintiies. Tho average, therefore, is likely -to be about 10, because few are so conscientious as I. "My. trouble w t as not selection, but elimination. First I went through tho list, boldly sweeping away the aspirations ,(as far as my ono voto could sweep), the 'men for whom it is impossible to vote.' Out. Out. Out. Out again. I wondered what they would have felt if they could have watched unseen over my shoulder. I wondered if volunteers for civic service should bo so treated. I "thought of thcf.r wives, who might feel deflated over the result, and the pride of families that might be reduced to the dust. x

"But the responsible -rotor must; not be deterred by humanitarian feelings. He. inust boldly flourish the crayon, an exceedingly objectionable sort of pencil though it be. He must never feel a s?ense of sorrow or sympathy. Ho must

boldly puniffc two-thirds of the-candidates "for- their preposterous temerity in offering their miserable selves as rcpresentalives of tho people, who must bo assumed to know it, all. How daro they so appear : before us! How dare they cause us * this trouble by in airing a two-feet list! "To be quite frank," proceeded Brown, ;,."I had a 'go' at tho list first, by marking out all I could not vote for, either because I knew them "or because I did not know them, or "because someone else '.: knew them toC' well, or thought his did. There were other reasons, of course. There was a man who had the same name as a man I used to dislike, so had to go. Another had a face, seen -"■ Sri an advertisement, I did not like, so ho also could not be chosen.- Another was rejected. because of his occupation, ; another because ho once passed mo in the street. In the whole list I found ..only one man, and an excellent man, for 'whom, on account of a purely private "vtndetta, I would "not vote under any circumstances. But a lot suffered with 1-liijn. " One Man, One Body. "Having marked out tho 'impossibles 1 counted the rest. There were 31. Ten too many. What now? Well, it entered my head! that no man had enough -time to do efficient service on more than one body. This took some thought, but it appeared to be sound. Thus I studied the other lists and if I had voted for a inan for tho Harbour Board or the Hos- „ pital Board I struck him out of the connoil. It seemed like a massacre of the innocents—almost sacrilege—but there could he no quarter because, for one tiling, I was pressed for time and, for ' another, I nacl to sea that my vote was not informal. In this manner men's 'jiublic reputations are made or marred. "Out went the men who were to bo '' prevented from doing too much public ' service. I tried to think that 1 was doing It for their own good—preser.vat:,on f / their health and energies and that sort of thing—but I knew I • was doing a mean and ungrateful thing. "Tho 31 became 25. The 25 were the '-Ultimate''limit. But 21 they had to be. •"'\Vhat now? I shut my eyes and made a ' point with this crayon as far as one can ' accurately point with a pencil that has a -'-diameter of about half an inch. It fell -on the first man of my choice. This ; -")hethod of elimination appeared to have •'-'flaws. The time was going on. 1 felt a senso of desperation and struck out four -names, and to tell tho truth I am not ■■ ' nure whose they were. At this moment I oould give you only a general idea of my ,: selection, which is a shameful thing. Good Men Wronged.

. "Of course, I followed no ticket. Never 'did. Never shall. Didn't know what was on what ticket, as'a matter of fact. I simply did my best in an impossible situation. I apologise to all candidates I have wronged and.to the city generally for not having been able to work it out by algebra and give a better answer. "Met a friend of mine as I was leaving the booth. He is one of those fellows who never admits a difficulty, a fault or a failure. He held forth and seemed to feel convinced that there was no possibility of there being anything wrong with his selection according to the principles which he imagines govern his life. He spoke of one man. Said he: 'He is all very well, but he suspects, that he is not as good a man as he thinks he is—and he isn't.' Now work that out. But having worked it out please realise that you can't get your voting-paper back. The thing is done. You have made municipal history. You may have helped to bring into prominence a man who may through the channel opened for him become Prime ■ Minister. You may' have helped to put ■ tho final snuffer, upon a really great but sensitive soul who on account of this blow will never volunteer again. It is an (appalling thought. "I am sorry, indeed, for my friend, who ; .'cheerfully informed me that he first selected seven, tihen added five because they bore names honoured in a particular .country and ended by voting for five only. In such a mariner do some burgesses dis(charge their duty. "It is niy considered opinion that if She new council truly reflects the mind of i"ihe electors on voting day it will be an .■indecisive, prejudiced pig-headed and relf-omnionatecl body. But it will bo full .jof .ill sorts, of conflicting enthusiasms [which may-last as long as two weeks.