The Government of Sydney.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19957, 18 June 1930, Page 10

The Government of Sydney.

Commissioner control of the city of Sydney will come to a close to-day after being in operation for the past two and a half years. Elective municipal government has been restored and the votes of the electors will be taken to-day to determine whether or not the Labour Party will again dominate the Council. Under the last Labour Council municipal government in Sydney became " a byword for corruption " throughout the Empire and a dis- " grace to Australia." Every conceivable kind of extravagance and inefficiency was proved to exist, and almost every * kind of crookedness. Mattel's came to such a pass that at the General Election in New South Wales in 1927 Mr Bavin's Party was returned to power very largely because its Leader promised that he would suspend the Sydney City Council's franchise and appoint a Civic Commission. That promise was redeemed* and Sydney wa3 freed for the time being from the disasters and disorders of Tammany rule. The administration of the city was put on a business basis, abuses were extinguished, finances straightened, and the city debt reduced, all so successfully that many ratepayers will regret that the work of the Commissioners is not to continue. Their consolation will be Mr Bavin's declaration that his Government will not hesitate, after the coming elections, to use its powers again, if necessary, to give the city clean and efficient control. Meanwhile the return of elective government revives the municipal party organisations, and the Labour Party, headed by Mr J. S. Garden, who is expected to be the next Lord Mayor should his Party prevail, has made no secret of its intention to revert to many of the practices associated .with its former regime, including " spoils to the " victors." The election to-day is therefore one of the most interesting ever held in Sydney, and the verdict will indicate how far the principles of Tammanyism and Sovietism have become an accepted and settled gpapel in the second white city in the Empire.