POWER BOARD ELECTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23048, 27 May 1938, Page 10

POWER BOARD ELECTION

The first 24 places in the polling for the Auckland Power Board were occupied by the candidates who had appeared on the rival tickets offered to the electors. The first of the independents, in the 25th place, was a long distance behind the lowest member of the unsuccessful Labour ticket. The descent after that was even steeper. The municipal elections indicated that the independent candidate has, at least for the time being, little place in the contest for office, and this one has confirmed it. Quite probably it will be the same when the general election is held. It may be regrettable, but the fact cannot be denied. Another notable feature was the way in which, for once, the advantage in a small poll did not go to the Labour aspirants. Usually they have profited from the apathy of citizens with no i>ronounced leanings and from the zeal of their own pledged supporters. This time they did not." There may possibly be a portent in this too. Actually, in this poll the success of the Citizens' Association ticket was more pronounced than at the municipal elections of a few weeks ago—more so, at least, than in the City, which most people regarded as the real testing ground. It is a fair assumption that electors concluded that general political issues had no bearing on the choice of men to administer what is almost wholly .a trading public body. If that is the case, the decision was a sound one. Such questions of public policy as may arise do not require to be settled by the light of any particular political dogma. For the rest, the high place taken on the poll by members of the former board, including the chairman, is a strong public endorsement of their past work. It is all the more striking because of the greatly widened franchise on which the election was held. « '