The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1882. WANTED, A COMMITTEE.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 583, 14 February 1882, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14,1882. WANTED, A COMMITTEE.

I Fkke institntious and an extended sys- | tern of local self government are privileges for which we, who enjoy them to 1 their fullest extent, should feel intensely grateful. At the same time they confer an amount of responsibility for the due exercise of the powers thereby conferred which at times may prove annoying, .ml make many almost wish for a beneficent despotism. In seckin;- to carry out these institutions in a manner which will conduce to the public good, we are constantly confronted by the ever-recur-ring difficulty of finding suitable men willing to fill the numerous elective offices which have been created by the various Acts ot' Parliament under .which we live. To take tiie district in which we reside as an example, the difficulty is not surprising. When we consider that in the County of Akaroa alone, besides our representative in the General Assembly, we Lave to find members for a Connty Council, a borough Council, six Road Hoards, seventeen School Committees, to say nothing of ■semi-public bodies, such as Libruiy Committees, Cemetery Hoards, ("cc, it is no wonder tiat a difficulty is experienced in finding a sufficient number of men able ami willing to fulfil the duties imposed on them by our Legislature.

We are led into these remarks by a consideration of the fact that by an Act passed during last session yet another demand is made upon the services of our local willing horses. We allude to the Licensing Act. in which, as our readers are aware, the principle of popular elec tion is applied to the constitution of the Licensing Benches, henceforth' to be called Committees, instead of commiss.oners. In another column appears an advertisement notifying the election of a Committee for the Borough of Akaroa, nominations for which close, on Friday next. As the election system in this matter is quite a new one, and as it will be admitted on all hands that the functions of these committees are of great importance, and that upon the manner in which those functions are carried out the cause of public morality to a .reat extent depends, it will not he considered inopportune if we call our readers' attention to the conditions under which they are called upon to exercise this new duty which the law has iui_ osed upon them.

'1 he County of Akaroa i.** divided into fiveoistricts, and the Act provides that for each district a Licensing Committee of

tions are to conducted under the provisions of the " Regulation of Local Elections Act," and each ratepayer will have one vote and no mon 1 , for each district on the roll of which his n-ime appears. Members of Lieen-*ing Committees need not be residents ot the district for which they are elected, and the sr.me person mny be elected to more Licensing Committees than one.

Now, let u-* see how these provisions affect the Peninsula. In tbe first place we m.iy remark that the division of the County into districts appeirs to have been carried out in a most peculiar manner.. The Act prescribes that, as far as practicable, Boroughs and Ridintrs of Counties shall be constituted districts, provided that no district shall contain less iban one hundred ratepayers. Both these conditions appear to have been ignored, and while some of the districts are large and unwieldly to a degree, we believe it will be found that two of the five do not contain the requisite number of rat-payers. As an example of the former we may install c Little River, which extends from Selwyn County to the western side of Akaroa Harbor, taking in places as remote from one another in locality and interests as Tai Tapu, Harry's Bay and Wainui. On the o her hand we doubt very much if Berard, shorn as it is of all the country west of the Head of the Buy, or Okain's Bay, which is cut into by Port Levy, contain either of them thi prescribed minimum of a hundred ratepayers. However, the ratepayers are not responsible for departmental blunders, which may be rectified at some future time. What they have to do is to set to work to discover tho men most capable of filling the position, and taking measures to secure their return. The two provisions rendering non-residents eligible and permitting the same person to be elected a member of more than one committee enlarge the circle of choice vei*3' considerably. An idea has been mooted that it would be well, if possible, to pick five thoroughly suitable men, and elect them to all the Committees in the county. Th ■pi eject has much to recommend it, but we fear it is Utopian, and can never be carried out. In the first place, a very suitable man might be willing to .serve on the Committee of the district in which he resided, and yet decline to sit on another, where he had no local knowledge or interest. Secondly, the. scheme, to be successful, would presuppose an amount of organization among electors which may be regarded for the present, at any rate, as unattainable. Besides, the majority of the members of such a Committee would necessarily be ignorant of the circumstances surrounding* the applications coming before them from parts of the county outside their individual localities, and would probably be guided entirely by the opinion < f the member of Committee residing in the locality in question. This would throw too much power and responsibility into the hands of one man. For these among other reasons, we consider the plan of endeavoring to secure the election of one Committee to do duty for all the districts impracticable, and one which may be dismissed without further consideration.

i It remains then for each locality to endeavor to secure five good men and true to serve on the committee always remembering that they are notab olutely tied up to residents within their own districts, and that members of other Committees are still eligible. The nomination of candidates for the Boro'igh of Akaroa takes place on Friday, so there is not much time to lose. Much will depend upon the choice to be made on i,liis occasion. We hear mention made of "Publicans' men" and "Good Templars' men." We object to both designations. We consider any candidate for the position ought to he one who can he depended on to carry out the law impartially and fairly. On tli" one hand lie. should be prepared to do his best towards putting down al! illegal practices, such as Sunday trading, selling after hours, gambling, etc, on the part of licensees, and on tho other to recognise the fact that for some time to come, at any rate, licensed houses must exist, and to do what in him lies to encourage such of them as are conducted in such a manner as to lender the traffic as innoccuous as possible The issue is in the hands of the people themselves. Lot them look to it that the privilege bestowed upon them is used in a manner that will prove of benefit to themselves and a good example to the electors of other districts.