DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14027, 2 April 1919, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The Municipal Elections are fixed for the end of the present Forthcoming month, and so far there Municipal is little indication of Elections, awakened interest

amongst the great body of our citizens. This spirit of indifference is somewhat' to be deplored, for the forthcoming election will have an important bearing upon the future of the town. It is not 100 much to say that upon the policy now adopted depends the welfare of Hamilton for the next decade at least. Such being the case, it is desirable that the services of the strongest and most talented citizens should be enlisted to .•firect that policy. Questions will h.avo to be dealt with involving the expenditure of large sums of money and care will require to be exercised lest the financial burdens become too great for the ratepayers to bear. It is comparatively easy to formulate an attractive platform; it is another matter to successfully finance it, and it is in this connection that the necessity for securing the services of able and successful men of business becomes apparent. For the past five years the borough policy has (rightly under the circumstances) been merely to " hold on," but the war is now over, and a forward move will have to be made in 'the immediate future. There will .possibly be an inclination in some quarters to " plunge." This must be guarded against, and the citizens should " make haste slowly." The need of the borough at the present time is a Council composed of progressive men with a well-defined policy to cover the activities for the next few years. The Borough must progress, but it is imperative that the reins be in strong hands. It is better to move forward at a jog trot and reach our destination than to dash on at a gallop and come to grief. It behoves the burgesses to bestir themselves to secure the ; candidature of men with the necessary qualifications for the office of Councillor.

The Hon. Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence, has definitely

Tho stated that nothing can Disfranchised be done to reinstate Soldiers the disfranchised soldiers, who will thus be debarred from voting on ■ Thursday, 10th inst., when the liquor referendum is taken. There can be no question that a manifest injustice has been wrought upon these men, who naturally resent it, and they have the sympathy of all sections of the community, which naturally finds a vent in lesentment against the Government. It is puerile to contend that the men alone are to blame. Parliament was assured that every soldier would have a vote on this question, and that assurance had btfen reiterated on more than one occasion. It would have been a comparatively easy matter for the military authorities hi giving the men their discharges to have ensured that their names appeared on the rolls for their respective electorates. But it appears that the men had no notification of the position—apart from a notice in the Gazette, which barely one person in a thousand sees, and they only received an inkling of the position when it was too late for them to enrol. It is a glaring instance of the " how-not-to-do-things" method which obtains in so many of the Government departments, and in this instance it its doubly regrettable as the men naturally resent the position in which they find themselves placed. Sir James Allen is of the opinion that the agitation is the outcome of the. activities of the rival issues on the liquor issue. We certainly do not think that the Minister is either correct or happy in his deduction. He surely cannot deny that an injustice has been done, and it is because of that injustice that tho protests have been made. Neither side, we are sure, seeks to obtain the verdict by disfranchising anyone, and of soldiers least of all. The root cause of the agitation is that the Government has broken faitli with the men.