THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1925.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19461, 22 April 1925, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1925.

THE LOCAL ELECTIONS. The public is indebted to the Labour Representation Committee for one thing, at any rate, in connection with the biennial election of members of the City Council, the Harbour Board, and the Hospital Board. The action of that committee in giving its official recognition to complete “ tickets ” of candidates for each of the local governing authorities invests the elections with a degree of interest that otherwise woidd almost certainly not be exhibited in them. It is to be feared that the electors would not, as a whole, be greatly concerned about the result of an ('lection to, say, the City Council in which there were a number of candidate's, each relying solely on his individual merits as his credentials. A largo number of them, displaying that apathy which is so often manifested at local polls, would leave it to their fellowelectors to make the choice for them, confident that they would exercise a wise discrimination, A challenge is

directed, however, to the entire constituency when a “ ticket ” is placed before it comprising the names — strangely unfamiliar names in most instances—of men and women, candidates for election to each of the three local authorities which have now to be re-constituted for the ensuing term, and when the intimation is made that this “ ticket ” constitutes the choice ot the Labour Representation Committee. For this means that these candidates are put forward on behalf of a political party and that if they, or any of them, should be elected they would, during their term of office, be subject to dictation from the Labour Representation Committee as to how they should speak or vote upon particular questions. These candidates, if successful, would not be representatives of the people. They would be the delegates of a section of the people. The intervention of a political party in local elections is no new thing. We have had experience of it in the past in Dunedin as other cities have also had experience of it. But it is not a development that improves on acquaintance. No attempt has ever been successfully made to justify it. The existence of parties in general politics is a recognised evil. It may be necessary, but that it is an evil is a matter about which we entertain a firm conviction. The intervention of political parties in local politics is, however, an unwarrantable intrusion. The supporters of the party system in general politics will tell us that principles of legislation supply the lines of demarcation between the parties. The legislative powers of the local governing bodies, however, are limited. They are powers which the General Legislature has devolved upon them. In very large degree the duties of the local authorities are administrative. The performance of them calls for the exercise of qualities of the kind that should be possessed by the directors of business concerns. This applies peculiarly in the case of the City Council, which controls trading undertakings that represent a capital cost of nearly two million pounds. These undertakings are the citizens’ own business. It is their funds that are invested in them. Their material interest is bound up with the successful management of these concerns. That is the main consideration that should influence them when they come to record their votes for the election of members of the City Council. Whom do they consider most highlly qualified by business training, by experience, by soundness of judgment to manage these undertakings of theirs to th© best advantage ? Can they honestly come to the conclusion that a person, whose name is wholly unknown to them, would be a suitable director of the important Electric Power and Light Department simply because they possibly agree with him upon some question of genera] politics which is entirely unrelated to the problems of municipal government ? They will not need to be advised that some qualification is required for membership of a body like the City Council—and, for that matter, for membership of bodies like the Harbour Board and the Hospital Board—other than the possession of views that may be attractive to them on such a question as that of the municipal franchise. It may be accepted as axiomatic that the only way by which one “ticket” can bo successfully fought in an election at which the number of candidates largely exceeds the number of places that are to be filled is by the preparation of an opposition “ticket.” The selection by the Citizens’ League of a “ticket” is a necessary and helpful rejoinder to the formation of a Labour “ticket.” The question has been asked, Who constitutes the Citizen’s League ? If the personnel of the league were ascertained, it would probably be found that it was not less competent than the Labour Representation Committee to offer advice to the electors as to whom they should support. Intelligent electors will all exercise their own judgment in the distribution of their votes, but they cannot be expected to be personally acquainted with all the candidates or to know th'o records and qualifications of all the candidates. In circumstances such as these it is probable that they appreciate the advice tendered to them by those who suggest lists of candidates as deserving of their support, even though they may be reasonably puzzled to know why certain names were excluded from these lists. In this event they will not blindly follow these lists, but will accept them for the purpose of helping them to complete their own selections of the candidates for whom they should vote.