The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2058, 19 April 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1907.

The electors of Gisborne can have nothing to complain of in the matter of numbers of candidates from which to choose a Council on AVednesday next, and the fact that there are nearly two candidates for every one vacancy to be filled, exhibits a healthy spirit of rivalry that is somewhat encouraging of good results. The great drawback to the matter is that most of the candidates (all but one, in fact), expect to be elected upon personal grounds, because the burgesses can know little or nothing of what they propose to do if elected. Only one candidate has so far thought of taking tho electors into his confidence in this respect, and tolling them whether or not he means to go as you please, to advocate stagnation or progression in municipal business when he gets the chance ,of a voice and a vote upon tho Council, or whether he will do anything at all, in fact. The one exception to the adopted rule has placed a progressive scheme before tho ratepayers, and has set an example to the others which it is more than reasonable that the others should follow, especially thoso candidates who have not had a taste of public life before, so that tho electors shall know what as well as whom they aro voting for or against. It is not necessary that they should go to tho expense of advertising their views on the municipal programme, for if they object to the expense, they can call a meeting at the street corner (as is frequetnly done in the cities) and express them there, when the local press will do tho advertising for nothing by reporting their meetings. But it is certaiuly due to the electors that they should not bo

called upon to vote blindly in regard to candidates’ intentions. Personal character ,of course, goes a long way as an inducement to vote for one candidate or another; but no candidate should depend upon that alono in asking the people to place him in the position of control of their money and how it should be spent. Some indication as to how they shall act if elected should he given by every aspirant to tho position of Councilor of the borough, ecpecially in view of the fact that there are large schomes for drainage and street improvement looming up in the near future, and to ask a voter to record his vote in favor of a man whom he knows not as a public man, no matter how respectable he may be as a private citizen, is literally asking them to vote blindly. There is yet time to remedy this omission, and ,in the interests of sound municipal government it is as well that the time should be taken advantage of. As Mr. Townley says, the drainage scheme’ will have to be faced, and that too during the life of the new Council, and if the candidates will now take the opportunity of expressing their views thereon, it will be all the more easy for the new Council to shape its course in accordance with public opinion in regard to it. The harbor question does not enter into the consideration as far as Councillors are concerned; but if it did it would be expected that the candidates should give some declaration of their views upon it, and as the drainage question is in one sense even more important than the harbor scheme, for it is one that concerns the life or death of many voters and their families, it is surely incumbent on intending Councillors to declare themselves upon such a momentous and expensive undertaking before expecting to receive tho confidence of those who will be affected by it one way or another through whatever action the Council may choose to take. If tho Council decides to inaugurate tho scheme it will affect the pockets of the voters, and if no action be taken it will just as inevitably affect their health, so that cither way a declaration at the present stage is almost imperative. The practice of seeking public positions of any kind without first coming to an understanding with thoso who have to “pay the piper” is not to be commended in any sense, and should be discouraged: but if the ratepayers themselves will not insist, upon an understanding before election, they almost deserve to suffer afterwards for their neglect or carelessness, or whatever it may be. The voting should not be cast on purely personal grounds unless, all other things being .equal, they have to bo considered as an additional reason why a preference should be shown for one candidate as against another, always providing, of course, that a candidate whose personal character is not above reproach should not be admitted into the consideration at all, no matter what his views may be. These are broadly the , grounds upon which wo would like , to see the coming contest decided, and those which in the interests of good government should not be neglected, for if a business man employs a clerk or a commission agent to do work for him lie does not shovel meney into their pockets without giving some instructions as to how it should be spent, and yet we find ratepayers so careless of their interests as to elect Councillors to spend their money which they provide them without knowing anything of their intentions as to how it should be spent. A revival meeting on municipal matters would be a distinct advantage before election day.