The Municipal Elections.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17118, 13 April 1921, Page 6

The Municipal Elections.

The election of the new City Council for Christchurch, which takes place a fortnight hence, will be contested, as on recent previous occasions, by three parties, or sets of candidates —those nominated by the Citizens' Association, those selected by the Labour Representation* Committee, and a number of others who prefer to Stand as Independents. The fact .that the municipal elections have taken on the character of party contests, in which political or semi-political issues . tend to cloud tho real questions with which' members of the Council have to deal is, in our opinion, an unfortunate doipelopment, but it i 3 one that has been forced upon that large section of the community which would like municipal elections fought out by the best men in tho city on purely municipal issues. Moderate citizens cannot sit idly by when organised Labour' geeks to dominate the Council, and make it the means of forcing their socio-economic views upon tho general public. -This is no time, if there ever was one, fpr trying all sorts of- costly experiments in local government, such as municipal bakeries, municipal brick works, and so on. What Christchurch, and, indeed, every borough ne.eds urgently at present, is business-like administration, not in the interests of one c&ss, but for the benefit of .all, and Christchurch people know enough about the local Labourites t.o know that that is not the kind of administration they are likely to receive from a City Council in which Labour' is' predominant. So far, however, Labour's nominees are tho only candidates who have taken any trouble to place their views before the electors. They are not content with announcing their candidature, but. are explaining their policy loudly and often, and are, indeed, showing a degree of activity and enterprise in tho conduct of their campaign which 'we couldi wish was displaye4 by their opponents. The Citizens' Association hxs put forward a "ticket" which includes the'names, of a number of very useful citizens, men to whom tho average resident of Christchurch is quite willing to, entrust the management of the city's affairs. But it cannot expect that' by the nomination of several m6n, who. by their past work on the Council, or in other .public- capacities, are well and favourably known, it can also secure the election of several others of whose opinions and ability much'less is known by the average voter. "Tickets" are not awallowed wholesale nowadays; the electors —thftse, at least, who are not prepared to vote for anybody just be- j cause be is acceptable to tfce Labour junta—want to know something about a candidate before they vote for him.