The Municipal Elections.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17121, 16 April 1921, Page 8

The Municipal Elections.

The present is so obviously a time when the city .must be' safeguarded against loose «nd imprudent/ideas in its governing body that we have little doubt i oncerning the citizens' determination to prevent the Labour Party frofri gaining control. The finances of the city aro not in so healthy a condition as one could wish., but this is largely, if not> mainly, owing to that great increase in wages and the coet of materials which •has affected public and private bodies and companies alike. It is a case now for cautitin and prudence, which is tin same' thing as saying that it is a ca&o for protecting ;the city against the 'costly experiments of which the Labour Party arq so fond. # To thy payers: pf rates this ia ctear enough; they knpw that Labour rule will mean -a regime of pluiider find waste. Those whose pockets will .be less-directly at' the mercy of Labour extravagance have nearly as mudh. reason as the ratepayers for hotting that polling-day will leftve in a majority the opponents of the revolutionaries. ' Foi* Labour j-ulo -does iiot mean pltmder only, the penalising of one section' of the community for the supposed benefit of the rest; it means waste, also. Lax ethics and lax management go hand ift hand.' A party, out to plunder is not a party fiom whom anyon'e need expect prudent management. Freebooters have nWer yet made good economists. Not. tiHe ratepayers -only, but the citizens as a wholg, would'suffer from the inefficiency of Labour domination, and we have every confidence that if the Citizens' Association's candidates prosecute a vigorous campaign the city , will escape Labour rule and the attendant difficulty of a financial recovery. As for tho jVlayo'ralty, the same;,considerations apply, although-no official Lhbour candidate has been put forward. The present Mayor is as good as a La-bour-nominee. The Labour organ isa'tiohs have measured him up, and they believe that hp can be depended upon to ntake them a. return for the support he expects from them. He has consistently played for the Labour vote during liis term of office, and in his Wol,tham- speech, there are plain indications ;.that i as The present contest progresses ho will stake everything upon getting it. In the past he has been elected through tho appeal which ho makes to the frivolous, l>ut tho -times are too serious for the continuance of such frivolity as the election of Dr. Thicker as Mayor of . this city. Ho appeals frankly to the frivolous and unintelligent, for.none but a hopelessly unintelligent person could take seriously the list in which, the Mayor set forth his .achievements. . He takes (o himself tho credit' of every pieco of progress madci by the city during his i/jrm of office', he personally had as little to do -with these things as with the winning of the war, and ho trusts to the public's shortness of memory to forget the extraordinary list"of projects which lie undertook to carr*> out. Between Dn» Thacker and Mr Beafiland the citizen wlho takes liia city seriously will not hesitate for a moment. Mr BeanlanJ is a- councillor of jnuch experience, and he understands, what Dr. Thacker has not commenced to understand, the principles that should govern the city administration at tho present time. Hi 3 election is desirable for exactly the same reason as make# desirable the avoidance of a Labour majority in the Council.