PARTY IN LOCAL POLITICS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22563, 6 May 1935, Page 14

PARTY IN LOCAL POLITICS

The introduction of party issues is local politics is to be deprecated for various reasons of which one must b« obvious to the public It is that tbt effect is necessarily to hamper elector! in the exercise of their judgment upon the merits of the candidates. A local body which is truly representative o£ the community served by it should include members of all sections, always provided that they possess the qualifications of personal integrity, business experience, and acknowledged ability. The elector, however, who responds dutifully to the appeal that his vote should be dictated by party considerations necessarily rejects the view that the members of a local body, to which the safeguarding of his interests is entrusted, should be composed of the candidates best fitted, as his own judgment tells him, to act as trustees of the public estate. In most of the cities in the Dominion the local issues at the elections this week are clouded by the introduction by th« Labour Party of party considerations, with the necessary effect of placing those citizens on the defensive who are concerned about the administration of their affairs for the benefit not of one section of the community only, but of the people as a* whole. Not less objectionable than the intrusion of party politics into local elections is th« development of what may aptly be described as a faction fight such as our correspondence columns have shown to be disfiguring the contest for the election of members of the Waitaki Electric Power Board. The electors are being importuned, in Oamaru and in the rural electorates alike, to vote for certain candidates who have formed themselves into a "ticket." Personal feeling, which has not been absent from the deliberations of the Board, has been imported into : the contest, with the distinct risk that' the interests of the ratepayers may be subordinated to considerations that should not influence the voting. In this case, as in the case of the elections into which the party factor has been dragged, the electors will best consult their own interests by supporting the candidates whose capacity and knowledge of the business of the local authority mark them out as most highly qualified to render efficient service to the public. ■ "