The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. A THREATENED DANGER.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1732, 24 April 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1913. A THREATENED DANGER.

There arc features of the ooming' local bodies' elections which must be regarded with satisfaction by all who realise the advantages of ari activc public spirit in any growing and progressive community. Where progress is afoot there is always a clanger that the direction in which it moves may not be the best, or the pace set a safe one; • and that danger is increased where public interests arc concerned if the people af-' fected display 'indifference as to the men who are chosen to manage 'their affairs. The latter element of risk can hardly be said to exist at the present time in Wellington, if we are to judge from the numerous nominations received yesterday for the various public offices which fall vacant at the end of the present month. For the suburban boroughs the number of candidates offering is not so large, proportionately, as in the city, but there is in most cases evidence of a healthy interest in the affairs of cucli. Probably a record number of candidates have presented themselves for the City Council, 'A 1 nominations being received for the IB seats; while for the Hospital and Charitablo Aid Board there arc 25 nominations for i 4 seats; and for the Harbour Board 9 nominations for 4 seats. All these offices for which there is sufch keen competition involve the sacrifice of time and entail work and worry, and there is no recompense attached to any of. them, other than the satisfaction of serving the community. Tlio positfcin, then, broadly speaking, can be taken as affording ground for congratulation. It is true that one scction of candidates—the "Labour ticket" —has embarked on the contest with what might bo termed ulterior motives, but although these, standing as they do for a class, cannot be said to be actuated by that broad spirit of citizenship which should inspire those who wish to servo the community; yet their activc interest in local government mattsrs is uoL

without its value. They, indeed, servo a useful purpose as'an irritant or a stimulus to citizens generally, who, seeing the threatened danger of class domination on their local governing bodies, arc stirred into active resistance of the movement in that direction. _ The large number of candidates offering their services can, as a matter of fact, be directly attributed to tho iictiyity displayed by the Labour-Socialists iu their attempt to capture control of the municipality, tho Harbour Board, and the administration of Hospital and Charitable Aid.

But when the Labour-Socialists have been given due credit for the share they have had iu stirring the populace to a more active interest in local government matters, there is little, in their actions that should earn them ■ the goodwill of the community. In the first place, they are seeking to introduce into our local government a vicious system of class rule. Although obviously iu a minoritythey are striving by means of their organisation to out-manoeuvre the unorganised majority of the community, and seizo the control, not only of the l'arge_ interests and important undertakings belonging to the municipality, but also the administration. of the hospital, and the distribution of charitable aid; and, furthermore, arc seeking to secure as large a share as possible in the handling of the affairs of the Harbour Board. They make no attempt whatever to disguise their purpose. What they aim at is absolute control—unbridled Labour-Socialist domination. As wo have before pointed out, they are running in every case as many candidates as there are vacancies, and for each of the local bodies their candidates are grouped in a "ticket," for which they expect their supporters to cast a block vote. This attempt to introduce class government, bad enough as it is in principle, is rendered still worse by the fact that those behind the movement have chosen as their candidates a number of men w r ho, however estimable they maybo as unionists, or Socialists, or private citizens, are quite unfitted by training and experience to have the control and management of the hugo interests involved. If these , candidates were standing as individuals —as, for instance, is one wellknown Labour leader, Mr. Mohiarty —no one would be at all concerned if two or throe of them won seats. • Indeed, it would, perhaps, have its advantages if they did. But standing as they do as a "ticket," they con-stitute-a danger which no thoughtful citizen can afford to ignore. The large number of nominations outside of tho Labour "ticket" will assist the Lab-our-Socialists because "it will split the votes of those opposed to that "ticket," and this is the real menace in the situation, and permits the possibility of class rule on a minority vote. , Tho only means of avoiding that possibility is for every citizen to make it his or her urgent business to go to the poll on Wednesday next, and for all outside the influence of the Labour-Socialist organisation"to vote solidly against tho "Labour ticket" and class rulo.