Date of Local Elections

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 11

Date of Local Elections

It is high time for the Government, the Department of Internal Affairs, and the local authorities to make up their minds when the local elections statutorily fixed for the third Saturday in November this year are to be held. The local authorities

concerned are the Christchurch Transport Board, the Christchurch Drainage Board, .the Auckland Transport Board, and the Auckland Electric Power Board- There are obvious difficulties about adhering to the statutory date, which may coincide with the Parliamentary election, or may be a week earlier or later. These difficulties include the arranging of polling booths and staff and the printing of rolls. At least as important is the probable effect of a Parliamentary election campaign on public interest, deplorably low recently, in the local polls. Postponement of the local elections for a few weeks is not practicable, because the necessary

, preliminary work would probably j push the date on too close to Christ- ’ mas. A better course would be for an early amendment to the Local Elections and Polls Act filing the date of the local polls well ahead of the Parliamentary elections—say in September—but that, too, has disadvantages. It would mean a winter campaign, which would not be likely to attract the interest of electors, whose attention would be fixed on the more important event at the end of the year. This would be preferable to postponing the elections for a year, though that might appeal to departmental ideas of tidiness because it would restore the sequence of polls: Parliamentary elections in the November of the first year, the “ little ” local elections in the November of the second year, and local elections generally in the November of the third year. This conception of an annual election season every spring is quite new, and was introduped only in 1946. Presumably it was devised by the Labour Party to stimulate public interest in local politics. If such was the case, it has been a signal failure. Parliamentary general elections are generally held in the spring for one

reason only. They closely follow Parliamentary sessions; and New Zealand legislators cling stubbornly to the idea that the only suitable time for Parliament to meet is in the winter. Local elections were formerly held in the autumn, a season,with many advantages, including the probability that local polls will not clash with snap Parliamentary elections. No great harm would be done if this year’s polls were postponed for a few months and held thereafter on the same date every three years. The results might suggest that a similar change could be made with other local elections. However, the important point is that whatever is done must be done quickly. The statutory date for these elections is little more than four months away.