THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1943. REAL ISSUES AT ELECTION

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32304, 25 August 1943, Page 4

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is Incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY. “Public Service.” WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1943. REAL ISSUES AT ELECTION

Eight New Zealand churches represented in the Campaign for Christian Order have issued a comprehensive election manifesto which contains arresting advice to those who have the privilege of exercising votes. Generally the aim is to direct public thought to the higher principles so that the election may be decided on a basis that will be for the good of mankind and not for the satisfaction of individual party prejudices or greed. If a nation-wide appeal to the better nature of men means anything the manifesto should have a worthwhile influence on the people at a time when momentous issues 1 are being decided. “We can never rest on the assumption that democracy is secured to us for all time,” says the manifesto. “In recent years we have seen representative government and free speech lost in country after country. Is it not a fact that the process always begins with a decline in respect for Parliament?” Tq the men and women armed with the right to vote the churches say: “The Christian will try to empty his mind of prejudice and catchwords and try with all his ability to weigh the real issues. His vote is more than a public duty; it is a religious exercise, which needs prayer and rigorous self-exam-ination. He may then find that the election is not being fought on the issues that really matter. He may find that party feeling and public excitement are sidetracking politicians and voters alike from the true course of public welfare. Then it is his duty to raise the neglected issues.” If electors in the month that remains before the election bear this advice'in mind, and act upon it, the campaign cannot fail to have a healthy influence upon the public life of New Zealand. The emphasis generally placed upon the more petty issues tends to destroy the wider vision which is reouired to lift the Dominion to full and' responsible nationhood.