The Daily News MONDAY, MAY 1, 1933. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 May 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

MONDAY, MAY 1, 1933. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH. Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA, High Street.

On Wednesday next the burgesses of the various municipalities in Taranaki will choose their representatives in civic affairs for a period which promises to test to the uttermost control of public affairs. Proof that the difficulties which lie ahead have obtained some recognition may be found in the interest shown in the forthcoming elections, an interest it is very satisfactory to record. Outside New Plymouth there have been no attempts to alter civic representation on the grounds that a complete change of policy as well as of personnel is essential to progress. _ In other municipalities there is to be competition, but there has been no attempt to awaken classconsciousness in the selection of candidates for support. In New Plymouth the local Labour Party has definitely challenged the retiring councillors and has asked the burgesses to give Labour

not only representation upon but control of the incoming council. The party also asks that Labour be given representation upon the Hospital and Harbour Boards. When such a request is made the public is wont to expect a pronouncement of policy, or at least a justified criticism of the administration Labour seeks to supplant. With the possible exception of the declaration that a Labour Borough Council in New Plymouth would carry out all borough work by day labour, it is exceedingly difficult to detect anything. in the shape of a new municipal policy in the speeches of Labour candidates. Their suggestion in regard to public works runs counter to that of practically every economist of standing, and it is difficult to believe that the burgesses of New Plymouth will give support to a scheme containing so many elements of danger. The rest of the Labour speeches have consisted of criticism of the retiring councillors and members of the Hospital and Harbour Boards, and it must be confessed that the more those complaints are examined the more difficult it is to treat them seriously. The retiring council, being human, was not infallible. It had to accept the consequences of errors of judgment and extravagances of its predecessors, and the council functioned in a period that was full of difficulty for every local authority in New Zealand. It has come through the ordeal meritoriously, and with an accumulation of experience that must stand the >, burgesses in good stead in the still more trying days which may lie ahead. It is no time to talk about “comprehensive schemes of streets and footpaths” unless a candidate for office can show how this can be carried out without inflicting additional burdens upon ratepayers. The weakest point of the Labour suggestions is that there is an absolute silence upon the provision of finance for the proposals they indicate. Every ratepayer knows who would have to pay the increased costs of a “day labour system,” or of “comprehensive public works,” and he knows, too, that higher borough rates will limit the attractiveness of his town in the eyes of those who might otherwise wish to become residents of New Plymouth, and thus prevent a continuance of the progress made in the past decade. Fortunately for the borough, all but two of the retiring councillors, headed by the Mayor (Mr. H. V. S. Griffiths) are offering their services for another term of office. The additional candidates chosen by the Ratepayers’ Association are well-known citizens, and one of them, it is pleasing to note, owes his nomination to some extent to the quickened interest ,in municipal affairs which is being displayed by the younger burgesses. Mr. Griffiths and his colleagues place before their fellow citizens a record of work accomplished and of economies pursued. Their opponents say, as 'they have a perfect right to say, that they could, if elected, put up a better record. It is for the burgesses to decide whether experience or experiment is to be supported in days that are critical throughout the Dominion. Common prudence would indicate that men of experience should be chosen, and there is every reason to believe the dictates of prudence will prevail. At the same time,, supporters of the retiring councillors must not make the mistake of despising their adversaries. There is only one way of making that support effective, and that is by voting on Wednesday. . The exercise of the franchise is a duty as well as a privilege, and a duty that should be carried out on Wednesday by every burgess on the rolls. Interest in municipal affairs begins with the . ratepayers, and if it is real it is displayed at the ballot box. Apathy there has often led to consequences which are regrettable, and for which the ratepayer is called upon to pay.