The Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1896.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5732, 27 November 1896, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1896.

The present electoral contest has been made in some degree notable by reason of the fact that a measure of reform is evident. To Mr W. W. Collins is due the credit of having set his face against house to house canvassing, a system 6f touting for votes that is always an unmitigated nuisance, and that has been made use of by Conservative canvassers as a coercive force. Other candidates have followed Mr ! Collins's excellent example, much to the relief of the public, and we sincerely hope that the abstention from so objectionable a procedure will speedily become universal. But there is another matter wherein the strongest possible protest is called for, and that is with regard to votes of confidence at the public meetings held by candidates. Everybody is aware that these votes are in some cases utterly false as an indication of the collective opinion of the audience, and that in various instances they have been mere tricks. A very large number of people have a lively recollection of a Conservative meeting in the Opera House, whereat the vote as declared by the Chairman was a bogus one ; and it seems that at certain meetings in the Riccarton electorate a like course has been followed. In any case such votes arc not in accord with the spirit of the ballot, and the sooner they are relegated to the limbo of oblivion the better. There is a reform for which the women of the community should agitate, and that is in connection with the working of the police department. It would be an excellent thing if a woman constable were appointed, to bo stationed at the police depot, and to take charge of all female prisoners. Let it be distinctly understood that, in this matter, we are formulating no complaint against the police. We have every reason to believe that their unpleasant duties are discharged exceedingly well, but it is not in accord with modern ideas that young girls should be entirely in the charge of male custodians while in the lock-up. We have seen, in this city, for years past, a splendid exemplification of practical Christianity. Largehearted women have gone out into the highways and byways, and into many an unsavoury place, on the mission of rescuing the fallen. They have attended regularly, on a like errand I of mercy, at the Police Courts, and they have so accomplished a large measure of good. Such women have a right to prefer a request, and if they ask that a woman may be appointed to the office we suggest, the common sense of the plea will appeal to everybody. These Conservative candidates protest too much. They seem to be striving to outdo one another in the profuseness of pledges and promises to be good Liberals. Realising, as they do, that the demand of • the people is for the preservation of the rights that have been fought for .and won during the past half-dozen years, they fervidly declare their resolve not to lay a marring finger on anything that has been done. They have looked carefully into what has been, done and behold — it is very good. But while they would not touch the structure, they would litterly destroy the men who planned it, and those who aided in the building. Bah! What political madness is this? Give these schemers a new tenure of office, and their free-trade-in-land policy would bring back all the evils of the bad old days when money was the only god, when the plundering of the people's heritage went on without let or hindrance, and the people themselves Avere bidden to lie down and wait, or to clear out.