THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1907. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13874, 11 April 1907, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1907. THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

It must be regarded as a hopeful sign that the approaching municipal elections are exciting at least more than the usual amount of public interest. It is never satisfactory when the community is apathetic concerning tho conduct of its affairs of local government and concernm? the personnel of the Council to which the management of the municipal business is entrusted. In fact, it is more than unsatisfactory that the publio should manifest any indifference over tho election of the members of the Council and over the proceedings of the Corporation. It is nothing short of unaccountable. Hero in Bunedin the City Council already conducts two of the most important businesses in the district, and it is just embarking upon another business upon the successful control of which the future development and prosperity of the city will largely depend. In these .undertakings and in the other branches of local municipal enterprise a huge capital investment is involved. Tho security of the city revenues has been pledged for the repayment of the sums that have been borrowed for the capitalisation of the various concerns that are conducted by the Corporation. It is, therefore, a matter of great consequence to the community that the municipal trading ventures should be efficiently -and profitably managed. The ratepayers are, in effect, shareholders in a great business, which embraces in its various branches the conduct of an electric tramway system, the manufacture and sale of gas, the generation of electric energy and its transmission for a distance of nearly thirty miles to town for sale in the form either of motive power or of electric light, the collection, storage, and distribution of-water supplies, and the supervision of the killing of meat for public consumption/ The councillors, for their part, whom the ratepayers select for the management of this business are really its directors. In these circumstances, the ratepayers should, for their own sakes, exercise as much care in the choica of councillors as the shareholders in public

companies and private institutions do in tlio choice of the directors who shall guard tkoir interests. That the ratepayers have not at all times ,in the past teen sufficiently alive to the importance cf the issues which are involved in the municipal elections is undeniable. They have not' bsen fully enough impressed with , the desirability of securing tho services in the Council of men of business experience, with a proved capacity to form a sound judgment upon business propositions—of men, in short-, who are "safe" as well as intelligent. It may, perhaps, bo retorted that the men of tried ability—tho men who, since they have been successful in the management oj their own concerns, would a priori be likely to direct tho business of the Corporation upon lines that would lead to success—liavo not freely offered themselves as candidates for seats in'the Council. But may not the rejoinder to this be that there has been no very apparent demand on tho part of the ratepayers for the services of such men and that it is not altogether unreasonable to assume that, once there should be any distinct evidence of tho -existence of the demand, tho supply would speedily manifest itself? However that may be, the imperative duty of the ratepayers, even if from no higher motive than the protection of thoir own pockets, is undoubtedly to seek for such candidates for election to the City Council as, in their opinion, may be twisted to manage the business of the Corporation in tho best interests of the community as a whole. At the present time a movement is being organised in Dunedin, as well as elsewhere- in the colony, to promote the candidature of the nominee? of a particular class, ■wlio-ra object will assuredly be, if they are returned, to serve the interests of the section of the community from which they are soliciting support. 'There can be no valid objection to the election to the Council of persons claiming to be direct representatives ■of tho working classes, provided that the candidates aro themselves men of the desired degree of capacity, and it may even, conceivably, bs advisable that there should be a leaven of Labour membership in the Council. But the representation of special interests is not to be encouraged, if the aim is to secure the benefit of those interests to the exclusion, or at the expense, of the interests of the entire body of tho community. Any such aim is not consistent with what should bo the design of the Council, to obtain tho best results from tho enterprises upon which it , has entered. The Socialistic axiom, from which the Labour candidates in municipal politics in the colony may bs said, like their prototypes in , the Mother Country, to derive their inspiration, is that municipal trading, involving collective ownership, is in itself desirable and preferable to private trading and individual ownership, irrespective of results. That is not, however, an axiom to which the collective, owners of the varied business in which the City Corporation is engaged are likely to subscribe- in any large numbers. Tho sane view is that it is by its •results that municipal trading must be judged. And the ordinary'intelligence of the community must convince it that the test results are not likely to be attained unless the services of the best-trained intellects are obtained to direct the operations of the Corporation. In saying this we have no wish or intention to , disparage the work that has been performed by the City Council in the past. It has committed mistakes— grave mistakes, possibly, in some instances, —but it has not blundered quite so repeatedly as some of its critics have alleged; and we have no feeling other than one of admiration for the disinterested manner in which the members of tho Council— some of them very busy men—have sacrificed their time a'nd f comfort in the service of the citizens. But we cnjtv.ot. hold that it is not an entirely wholesome sign that in tho majority of the wards the retiring members should be faced with the prospect of vigorous opposition. On the' contrary, the fact that there seems every likelihood that ■ there will be keen competition for most of the seats in the Council can only bo viewed as a refreshing indication of the existenoa of a good deal of public interest in the conduct of the affairs of the city.' It'is gratifying, also, to observe that this revival of interest in municipal politics is not confined to Dunedin, but that it is manifesting itself somewhat markedly in tho boroug-h of Morniiigton, where what would not bn an undesirable occurrence in the other suburban boroughs is to, be experienced—a sharp competition in each' of ..the wards.