The Star THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1925. THE CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17525, 30 April 1925, Page 6

The Star THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 1925. THE CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

In ;i iouu-cornereil contest for any seat, it would lie too much li expect one candidate to poll a majority of the votes, unless his opponents were almost contemptibly weak, and therefore the fact that a minority vote has carried Mr J. K. Archer into the Mayoral chair is not, in itself, a subject for surprise, however much it may be regretted by the majority that gave their votes to other candidates. The element of surprise in yesterday’s Mayoral election lay in the tact that Mr Archer topped the poll with such a substantial vote, and the figures suggest that lie gained votes outside tile ranks of his own parly. As a matter of fact, the conditions under which the ballot was taken could not have, been more favourable to Mr Archer. Assured of the support of the Labour Party, lie profiled by the splitting of the remaining vote among two strong candidates and a whipper-in. Indeed, it would he perfectly fair lo say that, in view of the plain probabilities that were pointed out before the poll, tiiosc who cast their votes for Mr Bean land or Mr Hamlet were either unduly optimistic regarding the chances of these candidates, or indifferent as to the real effect of their votes. The moral of the Labour victory in the Mayoralty is that the iir.sl-past-the-post system of election must always favour a compact minority party, and 1 1 1 crc will be a certain amount of grim satisfaction among electoral reformers in considering that it has proved a twoedged sword to those who fought so hard for its retention. The election of councillors, which was not marked by any division in the. ranks of the anti-Labour forces, gives point to the contention that, under a preferential system of voting for the Mayoralty, an anti-Labour candidate would have been returned with a substantial majority. It is impossible, in a system that permits of plumping, to say from the voting figures exactly how many persons voted for councillors, hut it was probably not far short of the record vote of 29,000 for the Mayoralty. The result gives eleven scats to the Citizens’ Association and live seats to Labour, a proportion that was not unexpected, in view of the fact that several of the Labour candidates could rely on support from outside their own party. The constitution of the new council, therefore, does not differ greatly from that of the old council, in a party sense, and il is evident that the Mayor, in giving a lead in policy matters, will have to adjust his proposals to 'he views of the moderates. But no obstacles should be placed in the way of a sane progressive policy, and Ihc personnel of the council gives ground for confidence in this direction. Incidentally, it is to be hoped that the lessons of yesterday's poll will lead to the speedy re-enactment of proportional representation, with Ihc logical accompaniment of preferential voting for the Mayoralty.