THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1950. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27551, 20 November 1950, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1950. LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

The result of Saturday’s polling throughout New Zealand cannot be regarded as other than disappointing. The returns from several centres, including Dunedin, show distinct gains for Labour, but the poll in general has been so light that the results cannot be regarded

by any party or organisation as a true indication of political feeling in the country. The figures for Dunedin city reflect an apathy on the part of the people towards their own affairs which should give our civic leaders, regardless of their parties and politics, .cause for serious concern. Fewer than 50 per cent, of the electors of Dunedin exercised their privilege of voting on Saturday, the total of 23,240 being nearly 9000 less than the number of votes cast in the 1947 election. In 1947 the candidate who was twelfth on the list of successful candidates received 15,680 votes, ye: on Saturday Dr McMillan topped the poll with only 12,272. This same public apathy was responsible for an unexpectedly close contest for the mayoralty. Whereas in 1947 Sir Donald Cameron, with a total of 22,000 votes, enjoyed a majority of 12,000 over his Labour opponent, Cr Wright on Saturday gained only 12,000 votes in all, and his majority (on the preliminary count) is less than 1000. Citizens will be pleased that Cr Wright’s services to the city have been rewarded by his election dg Mayor, but all who have the interests of the city at heart will be disappointed at the skimpy nature of the poll. Despite the difficulty that commentators might have in interpreting any positive trends from a poll in which a very substantial portion of the electorate showed no interest, Labour must be conceded some considerable gains. In Dunedin, the City Council will consist of six Labour and six Citizens’ Association members under the presidency of a Mayor > elected on the Citizens’ Association “ ticket.” One Labour member, incidentally, is a woman, Mrs McMillan, who will be the first of her sex to sit on the Dunedin City Council. In electing her to a civic office which has formerly been an exclusively male preserve, the people of * Dunedin have indicated their appreciation of the value of a woman’s outlook on many of the problems of the present day. In addition to securing six seats on the City Council, Labour has gained a majority of the city elective seats on the Otago Harbour Board and has increased its membership on the Otago Hospital Board. Citizens now have every right to ask whether Labour intends to acknowledge the responsibilities with which it has been entrusted. Six years ago, when the City Council was made up of six representatives of each “ ticket,” the Labour members ungraciously refused to act as chairmen of committees. In addition, the attendance of several Labour members at council and committee meetings was far from satisfactory, and the people at the 1947 election indicated, with an emphasis that was disastrous to Labour hopes, their preference for men who were prepared to devote adequate attention to civic affairs. Now, it would seem, the citizens are giving Labour members a second chance, and the opportunity to exert themselves on behalf of the city.

BULK PURCHASING

Lord Beaverbrook’s outspoken condemnation of the system of bulk purchasing contained a good many truths that needed expression. The system is leading to increasing acrimony between Great Britain, the principal buyer, and the various countries which supply her with food. And almost every one of these disputes has been magnified to the status of an international incident by reason of the fact that negotiations have been at an inter-govern-mental level. It is a system which the Socialist Government of Great Britain holds in much esteem. Indeed, the present Minister of Food, Mr Webb, opposing a private member’s motion to have restored to private traders the right to buy foodstuffs in foreign markets, described Government bulk buying as being “an inescapable and indispensable instrument of twentieth century world trading.” In addition, he indicated fairly clearly his Government’s intention to maintain the policy of bulk purchasing by affirming that “ certain functions of procurement and distribution must never again go back to private trade.”

In principle, long-term bulk-pur-chasing agreements have one commendable feature—they do permit the supplying countries to concentrate on specific lines of production. In practice, however, the system has proved to be deleterious to both buyer and seller, and provocative of interminable wrangling and ill will. From the point of view of the British Government and the British consumer the purpose of buying cheaply at a time of rising prices has failed, and has resulted in the retention of a stringent scale of rationing which is disliked as much by the British housewife, who cannot buy enough meat, as it is by the Argentinian grazier, who now has no market in the United Kingdom. From the point of view of the supplying countries bulk purchasing has proved obnoxious because of the arbitrary discriminations which are practised by the British Ministry of Food and the neglect of business practices which are of benefit to producers. The reputation of New Zealand meat has suffered in the United Kingdom because of defective methods of storage and distribution employed by the British Government, and quality has been placed at a discount. Great Britain wants all the butter New Zealand can supply, yet pays the New Zealand farmer a lower price than is offered to his Danish or his American competitors. It is proper, in the interests of both parties, that the United Kingdom Ministry of

Food should indicate its long-term requirements and offer certain guarantees to producer countries in order to ensure a constant supply of the required foods. Experience has shown, however, that efficiency and goodwill are sacrificed when the Government becomes the sole purchasing agent and attempts to substitute political doctrine for sound trading methods.