A SIMPLE ISSUE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 277, 27 November 1935, Page 8

A SIMPLE ISSUE

APPEAL FOR SANE THOUGHT TODAYS ELECTION POLL XUTHIXG FAXTASTK To the Editor. ;sir t'he voice of tiie people ■will eouie into its own to-uay,. in the shape of a piece of blue pencil, a ballot box or two, anil little strips of paper. To-day is polling day. and in the hush just before the battle's final stage, when the victor is cheered or the vanquished travelled home in a rickshaw, let us pause to review the position. It has been said of Britain and the Dominions over which Britain is pleased to govern, that man has an ability to think for himself ■»nd do the right thing at the right lime. That is ail the electors will be called upon to do to-day. They will be asked to think clearly, tor themselves, alter having heard the various candidates or read their speeches. The simple story is the right story —the sane, simple, straightforward account of t hat has gone before and what is likeiy to happen in the future. Thinking dearly means divesting one’s mind of the side issues anil thoughts of any fantastic future of brightly-co.oured hues. Nobody in this world has ever got anything for nothing, ami that sane, simple story will go down through the years, when your children and their children are operating at th-s ballot box as we are operating to-day. It has been true in the past, when your father and my father stood before the throne of Democracy as we are standing now. We have placed mir faith on that principle since New Zealand was a country, for good or itl. we have come to believe in the common sense of man to see through all he has been told and grasp the’simple faith lying behind that which has gone to build the Empire. There is no logic in the British Empire, somebody has said, and no accounting for its strength. There have been times when people deemed it dead, but when the crucial test came that illogical. hard-to-undeistand ability of the average Britisher to use common sense has risen to the occasion. and instead of Albion looking back on a pathway of broken trees the outlook has been on solid backing over good or ill. Hard times have faced New Zealand, involving kee.ii sacrifice. Nobody wants those times to return. and in he wielding of the little stub of blue pencil to-day that thought will be uppermost. No election has ever called for such sane thought as this —clear, simple thinking. It is an election in which everybody who has the privilege to vote should do so. in order that a clear indication of the people's will be given. Io stay at home means shirking one’s responsibilities and frying to make the other tellow carry the load. Staying at home may mean we are afraid of losing selfi speet, or fear feeling the pinprick of conscience at having voted wrongly or without sufficient can'. We New Zealanders should be above that sort of thing. No life was ever lived which did not have its hurdles and its tests. X man who shirked those hurdles lias invariably been proved a poor. man among his fellows. To-day s| polling calls upon all who are 21 or over to acknowledge thenstatus ami become a factor in the power of Democracy. No glowing story lies behin 1 the election issue. It is a case of the electors thinking clearly, freeing their minds of prejudice and of the hurts each sacrifice has brought. If the race has been baid we should not judge it because of that. Rather should we ask ourselves has it been straig.it and in accord with the principles for which the Hag we honour stands. Behind the appeal and counterappeal of candidates, behind all the bitterness of jioiitics which sometimes causes good friehds to rah each other doubtful names, behind charge and eountei-charge lies the story which each elector should master for himself or herself before voting to-day. It is a story which does not take much mastering, and for some its very simplicity makes it hard to understand. In some respects the people find it hard to reconcile the tact that the destiny of this country depend on such a simple issue—the issue between a policy of sound common sense and one built on fantastic castles in the air. Everything fantastic must be forgotten ami every • ote should be for sane, straightforward Government founded on orthodox principles as applied in Greit Britain. —1 am. etc.. JOHN CITIZEN. Wanganui. Nov. 27. 1935.