The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1933. ELECTION REFLECTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 752, 4 May 1933, Page 10

The Christchurch Star. PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1933. ELECTION REFLECTIONS.

npHE only surprising thing about the Mayoral election yesterday was the very substantial minority vote polled by Mr L. C. Walker, whose only real claim to support was a genuine desire to put life into the dry bones of civic indifference. Very hearty congratulations, therefore, can be extended not only to Mr Sullivan, who polled as many votes this year as were polled by himself and his opponent just ten years ago when he first stood, unsuccessfully, for the Mayoralty, but also to Mr Walker, in the playing of a decidedly lone hand. As for the City Council election, the total of first preferences shows that the Labour Party, if the recalcitrant left wing is included, has a definite preponderance of supporters in the city, although an unsuspected trend of preferences may give an additional Independent, and in that case the Labour majority on the council would be problematical. The possibilities are discussed in detail in the news columns, and it is sufficient to say that the totals of first preferences must always be a reliable guide to the final composition of the council. A NOBLE MADNESS. ' I ''HE Mount Everest expedition is materially quite a useless adventure. It is a foolish risk of life. It contributes nothing to science, and when the men reach the top they may not know that they are there, being delirious less from joy than from the lack of oxygen. But so long as Nature challenges men they will answer her. For the onlooker who wishes the climbers success but fears tragedy, perhaps the best philosophy is that of a writer in “The New Statesman”: Sometimes as I walk along a su'burban street where each window-seems to proclaim that life’s highest ambition is to be able to keep the lace-curtains neatly darned, I forget for a moment that men are invincibly adventurous and splendidly unutilitarian. Nothing else could account for the new attempt on Everest And yet this mad effort to stand on the roof of the world is a symbol of something more encouraging than the rows of neatly darned lace-curtains. Men who grapple with Nature and death in high altitudes must be, in moments, not far removed from the hermit by the frozen lake who wrestles with his own soul, with this difference, that the climber, if he returns, brings back a record of fortitude that is a spiritual contribution to his generation. A SEARCHING TEST. /YNE of the grievances that candidates often cherish in the matter of proportional representation is the searching manner in which it tests the popularity of the individual as against the strength of the party. But the merit of the system is that the electors do the searching, and not the party managers. The great lesson to be learned from this cold-blooded disclosure of the real and not the fancied popularity of any candidate is that the highest premium is placed on men of ability. The higher the individual standard of ability among the candidates, therefore, the more certain will the city be of the election of a capable council. HOW INDIFFERENCE IS BRED. ' I "'HERE is a bare possibility, under a Bill due for consideration next session, that the life of the present City Council, or some subsequent council, will be extended to three years to bring the date of municipal and county elections into the same month. The general tendency to extend the life of Parliament or local bodies is reactionary, and readjustments would be better made by reducing the term of a council than extending it. In fact, every extension of municipal office tends to make for civic stagnation or unprogressiveness. With the completion of Mr Sullivan’s new term of office, the city will have had only two Mayors in ten years, and although this state of affairs is merely the expression of the popular will, as far as individuals are concerned, it would be better to make the office of Mayor go round, if not annually, as used to be the case, then at least biennially.