THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18163, 27 April 1921, Page 4

THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING.

Throughout the past few wa®ks there has been a lot of condemnation heaped upon the outgoing Borough Council. Much of the condemnation has been well deserved, so far as it applies to the majority of the Council, largely because of their individual and collective weakness at a time when they ought to have been strong. But, in fairness, it must be admitted that the responsibility for

the unsatisfactory condition into which our civic affairs have been allowed to drift does not rest wholly with the Councillors who failed even to attempt to “stop the rot.” Some of the responsibility must be placed upon the shoulders of those electors who, when opportunity offered time and time again, neglected to vote out a plausible opportunist and vote in a safe and trustworthy man. Beyond all doubt, things would not have been as they are to-day if so many citizens had not refrained from voting. Hence the vital importance of votiftg to-day. What we want to impress upon every ratepayer, every householder, every man and woman with a stake in the town, is that even one unrecorded vote may be responsible for serious consequences to the .whole commun- ' ity. There are big issues at stake in to-day’s elections, the biggest of j them being the rehabilitation of the I municipal finances, and the expedi- . tious provision of cheap light and ; power. The personnel of the new Council will determine these issues for good or 111. Consequently it behoves every elector who can possibly do so to vote, and, in voting, to select as their representatives upon the Council the candidates who are best qualified, by reason of their policy, their intelligence, their business knowledge and experience, and their strength of Character, to bring sound judgment to bear upon the i consideration of the important questions that must necessarily be settled during their term of office.