ADULT SUFFRAGE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20492, 10 March 1932, Page 7

ADULT SUFFRAGE.

TO THE EDITOR O* THB I>RESS. Sir, —In to-day's issue of The Press, your correspondent "Bawbee" asks in reply to my statement against adult suffrage, if "there is any logical alternative?" The answer is, yes. The present system places undue power 1,1 the hands of the irresponsible —the thoughtless, the' derelicts. It has enabled catch-vote politicians to get into positions of power by promises ot taking something from "the other fellow. It has tied up the industrial machine. It has formulated a Public Works policy that has cost many millions of money by paying inflated wages beyond tha value 'of work done. It has also put the spirit of timidity into our politiciaus. 1 have not the least doubt that some members in Wellington are in fear of supporting the Government in attempting to undo some of the unwise legislation of past years. It is illogical because it reduces the highest to the level of the lowest. How olten has it been stated by persons who pose as leaders of the masses: "Don't forget, my friends, that your vote ' s equal to that of the highest in the land?" Equality has m place in any other active sphere of life. It is not tound on a gooseberry bush, nor at a root of potatoes: nor on a rose bush. But "Bawbee" ask 6 for an alternative. When loans are. sought by ttie Government, the population is not tlie onlv basis o) security offered, but the composite wealth of the community is pledged. Therefore it stands to reason tJiat the people who are mostly responsible to meet the commitments should have increased voting power at any local or Parliamentary election. The last election of the Cliristchurch City Council, and later, the Parliamentary elections throughout the •nonunion. supplied striking evidence of the folly, of a "one adult one vote policy, and the sooner it is replaced by something on the lines of greater voting power for the responsible portion of the community. the sooner we shall get back to saner - Government. l'ours, etc., 'A 13 March Bth, 1932.