AN ELECTION IDYLL

Hokitika Guardian, 5 July 1921, Page 3

AN ELECTION IDYLL

!\ 01J) .JAPAN. SOME ORIGINAL METHODS. i, the New Zealand Chambers of ('on mi or ec could mi use such enthusiasm among their representatn o* and their •\lectors.” that their annual elections would vie with tlm Parliamentary Campaign in popular interest, would they not be delighted? Yet this does v a-pear to be beyond the pale of practical politics, lor evidence is to hand from Japan that the annual okvtmn for the Osaka Chamber of Common-: 1 excited more interest than the selection of the members oi the Japanese Diet. A writer in the‘‘Oriental Trade Joc.tn:d" devotes several columns to a graphic account of the events surrounding the election. It was held on the natal dav of Ireland's patron saint, but the sins of Erin have rarely provided such a scene as prevailed in the broad open smiccs fronting the T.-amura Temple. Tim names of tlm candidal os were displayed mi sixty placards Irom the Prut

■:' the temple. On both sides of i'u ■ourt tents were pitched, curtains ot ■ed and white were stretched, and

space nine foot by twelve, was allotted to each of the candidales to solicit Mtppori ns the electors entered the temple to record tlmir votes. Hundreds of automobiles and jinrikshas. hired by the candidates, stood in a few outside the temple.

“Meanwhile." continues the scribe, ■‘in front of the poll, the candidates .-nine in frock coat, others in knori and lahuma-. stand up lomrhdsnnlly on their boxes and count Ike voters for tlmir sympathies: hut. in spite .if G' fine weather of tin' day. the wind r yerv strong, and it is quite a pity to see them covered, til! over with tlm brown dust. Many voters creeled every candidate they met. and passed an id' word with him before going in I < the poll." Some idea of the printing bill niididates may he gathered from tlm fart that each dislribrted large lithe-g'-aplied nanie-eatds. in five differentcolours, some a- many as 150.000 of them! One candidate borrowed all the retail sltopis of the city, and l unmd I M into campaign offices. Another “had one hundred and fifty canvassers re-l - ing about the ejty. in so imposing " manner.'’ A third “hired one hund" i brokers and made' Ilmm sally fo-tb in all directions. ’’ Tim writer has much to complain about in the tactics- of the cand'diile . Commenting en tlm vole-snatching I’m! had been eafried on by the canvassers, he says: “The scheme of the planners had its effect, and dropped the leading men from their respective lines by their bad shameful means. Tl is a great regret- that with the development of human knowledge, seek vicious persons should apnear among the noble gee. tlemen circles, and ft is indeed a great problem in the social morality imvr- to l»e allowed to remain untouched. From this ii will dearly be comprehended that tlm se-ealbd eii-rfhe ■ vnssing is as ever all but falsehood." There were some very inilreniia! candidates, comprising the lending hankers and financiers of the city, the marid of the Stock Exchange, and the chief of the Produce Exchange, "who was decorated with the order of the Green bon Medal last winter.’’ This last “was robbed of his voto by bad schemers, and failed in the election, but. as be is ebb f committee of the three Produce Exchange. he can still hr a member of the (•handier. And so their villainous measures were all in vain. '-mong the irHeenihd- in tlm lines-tif the mervlmntshi am! cotton companies there wife . certain artificer, who robbed anotle r of a vole promised for him. by s’-veral unseruprlous plans, making the vot"r backslide by dint of oppression, and by threatening which was of course a very base and imgentlemanlike action."