The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1909. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13889, 28 April 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 1909. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

'fo-day the. electors of the several New /.eaJaiid boroughs, or most of them, aic called upon to chooso from among their J.umber a small body of men to take charge of a. considerable number . tho,r common interests—not all, bub including some of the most important of the in. The provision and preservation oi highways 'and byoways over which they tiiid their vehicles must travel; the artificial' lighting of. these which lor certain hours of tlio night replaces the itbsent sun and moon; tlio safety of the general' health, to bo secured as. far as this can bo secured by means of sanitary arrangements, active and preventative, including the provision of adequate and harmless water supply; the security of life and limb and property against tlio adverso elements of fire, wind and water, and the ignorance or carelessness of builders ; the insistence upon public civility amongst its members which is one of the criteria of civilised life; tlieso are among the first, the most important of the concerns of a Borough Council. Some* consider it their duty to add to these the provision of means of recreation and mental enjoyment in sports grounds, pleasure grounds, music, and libraries, theatres and halls. A' lew go further, and seek to "municipalise " tlio supply of such necessaries of life as milk, domestic lighting,; motive power, means of transport (limited to human beings as yet), and housing lor a scetiou of the civic community. It will be recognised that tlio Timarn Borough Council has hitherto accepted in theory and in fact that it is its duty to attend to these concerns except some of those last mentioned; and to nearly the same extent this is the case with Tiniaru's sister boroughs of South Canterbury. Some of these concerns are wido open to public observation, so that every ratepayer, every elector, may know as much about tlieni as his elected representatives, and be perfectly well able to judge of the success or non-success of the Council in dealing with tlieni. Behind nearly all these things lie the financial arrangements of the Borough, ii controlling influcnco affecting all the rest, and these arrangements are not so freely open to observation; tlicy demand sonic study to understand them; therefore the average citizen almost perforce leaves the consideration of them to the small body of men appointed to look after his civic interests in all particulars. It is this fact which, more than'any other, seems from the point of view of the ratepayer to require the selection of men well qualified by their training or their experience to deal, with questions of receipts and expenditure. But this, whilst it is a. necessary is not the only important qualification of a Borough Councillor. He should liavo at least a respectable ideal of life in community, and be ab'le to aim at making life better "worth living" in his town than in any other, 1 though his pursuit of this aim must be tempered with a wise discretion that will avoid making it bad for some 'while making it better for others.' Wo are not going to undertake. the duty which belongs to the electors of Timaru,. of indicating by a. cross or other mark the candidates tluy should prefer to-day. We content ourselves with reminding them of their large and varied interests which by their votes to-day they entrust to the management of a small body of men for the next two years, and with suggesting that they should choose the candidates who, to the best of their judgment, are best fitted to bo entrusted with the care of those interests. Judging from common talk and some little newspaper correspondence, a perfectly irrelevant side issuo has boon introduced, one which lias nothiiij to do with municipal affairs, and wo urge the electors to entirely disregard that red-herring across the track of their proper purpose.