THE FUTURE CIVIC TASK

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 198, 19 May 1944, Page 4

THE FUTURE CIVIC TASK

There are two basic questions in connexion with the present municipal election which every elector should ask himself oi herself. The first is: What is the job the incoming council will be called upbn to do? The second is: What are the capacities of the men and women who are asking for a mandate to do that job? Thus, the issue, is not —or should not be —a political one. It is wholly an administrative issue—a matter of selecting a group of citizens who, by reason ot their experience, acumen and judgment, as demonstrated in then daily lives in the community, are considered most able to handle the city’s affairs and give their time and attention, impartially, to the interests of the people. To make this selection an occasion tor party politics and sectional bitterness is altogether wrong. It is wrong partly because it represents a deliberate fostering, for certain ends, of a bad community spirit. Also it is wrong because it is confusing. Young citizens preparing for the first time to exercise their i ig.its as voters, and those older people who may not have kept closely in touch with local affairs and the evolution of the city, find it difficult in the midst of deliberately-fanned controversy and recrimination, to weigh the true value and meaning of promises, policies and propositions, which in future may be of direct concern to them in their own districts, their own streets, and even their own homes. The job of the council to be elected this month may well be one of the most difficult and onerous which has ever faced a civic administration in the Capital City. -More than four years ago the community chanced over from a peace to a war basis, and since that time the war emergency has necessitated an extremely careful husbanding of the city’s resources of men, materials, plant, and public utilities. The strain has been very great in all parts of this country, it became unprecedentedly so in the case of Wellington by reason ot tie influx of war workers', together with large numbers of transient services personnel. The position is now easier, but it may not be oveilong before a further transformation occurs. The end of the war emergency will bring about a sudden, tremendous intensification ot problems of rehabilitation which are already demanding attention. What will be required then will be a programme of sound reconstruction, restoration and expansion—one capable of providing long-term permanent employment, and designed so as to regain, as rapidly as is possible, consistent with safety, the leeway of the war years. Vet it should be a programme which will avoid imposing on ratepayers —and through them the public generally —a series of unnecessarily heavy commitments, which may become an intolerable burden in the fUtU The smooth achievement of this transformation, will call for a steady and experienced administration. Familiarity with the problems of the past will be an invaluable asset in dealing with future problems, and for that reason the incoming council should consist predominantly of those who have had recent continuity of proven service in public life. Wellington is fortunate in having as a Mayoral candidate a man long experienced in key positions in the civic administrative circle, and one able to give undivided attention to the tasks which lie ahead. He requires a team of co-workers in which experience is blended with sound progressive qualities—a team consisting of citizens of responsibility and proven capacity in their various spheres ot business life.