THE POLITICAL COUNCIL AND ITS BALLOT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5700, 20 October 1896, Page 2

THE POLITICAL COUNCIL AND ITS BALLOT.

The followiug letter is reprintod from the Lyttelton Times : —

Sip.,— ln justice to the electors of Christcliurch and myself, I feel it my duty to make the following matters public. On Oct. 14 I wrote to the Liberal and .Labour Political Council notifying 1 them not to submit my name to their proposed ballot, and stating " this step is forced on me for reasons I will duly forward you at my earliest opportunity." At their meeting, held on Wednesday last, the Council dealt ■with this communication, hut no mention is made of it in their report appearing in your issue of to-day. As my nomination by a union was duly made public by them, also that I had replied to the questions involved in their platform, my determination not €0 submit myself to ballot should have also been made public. Has it been withheld for a purpose ? To-day I received a letter, dated Oct. 17, from the Secretary of the Council, intimating that " the Council has considered your case, and have decided • that if you are going to retire from the contest for a seat in the House of Representatives they will withdraw yoxir name from the ballot, but not otherwise.' " So this righteous-minded Council have " considered " my case and " decided " before hearing either me or my reasons ! The above, and another submitting their platI form for reply, are the only communications I have received from them. About the ballot, its objects, conditions, and requirements, no information whatever has been forwarded me, neither have I at any time forwarded the Council a written statement authorising them to submit my name to their ballot ; hence they have no right to do so. Moreover, the constitution (or rules) of the Council has been vitally altered, and the conditions under which, with the nominating union, I verbally agreed to enter the list have been entirely changed since my name was first submitted as a nominee. Therefore, again, I have a just right to refuse to go to a ballot, and the moral obligation of the Council is to accept that refusal. By the recent alteration of their constitution, the Liberal and Labour Political Council have, to my mind, simply made themselves the willing victims of tho Prohibition Party. I have forwarded to the Council the following reasons for the step I have taken: — (1) To bo logical and effective a ballot should be binding on the candidates entering it. Provision to this effect is made by all bodies existing for like purposes to the Liberal and Labour Political Council. By this I mean that every candidate, before being balloted for; should be required to give a written guarantee that if not elected by that ballot he would retire from all further contest. A ballot held on any other principle or by any other arrangement is, to my mind, worse than useless. (2) A ballot taken by tho Liberal and Labour Political Council, though possibly representative of the opinion of the voters affiliated to that body, would, because of the unrepresentative character of the Council, be entirely misleading to the general body of Christchurch electors. By this I mean that, as the Liberal and Labour Political Council is only representative of a very small portion of the Liberal, and a still lesser portion of the Labour, votes, therefore a ballot taken by a body so constituted would,, as an indication of the Liberal and Labour vote at the coming election, be false and misleading, hence morally wrong. Publicly atiny political meeting, privately, ever since and now publicly again, I protest against this misleading and iniquitous ballot, and if, after this, my name is still submitted I can only ask that my supporters who are affiliated with the Council will refrain from voting in tho coming ballot, so that I shall be able to judge (so far as the Council is concerned) the voting strength of that curse to our politics and progress — the Prohibition Party. I would like to say in conclusion (with all duo respect to the Council) I have no intention of retiring from the contest, even if their ballot should be against me, having sufficient promises of support to encourage me to go to the poll. — I am, &c, WILLIAM CULLEN.