CHOOSING CANDIDATES.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 251, 23 August 1928, Page 4

CHOOSING CANDIDATES.

ELECTORATES are often of such an unweildly size and so grotesque in shape that there is no community of interest whatever between the most

widely separated parts thereof, and consequently the choice of one candidate' from among several of the same colour sometimes becomes a local regional or geographical contest. Whether the result is the' best obtainable seems to be largely in the lap of the gods, and the Pates have given two very different decisions lately. In Auckland Suburbs, where the candidates drew lots, the outcome was one that most people will consider the best possible, for Sir James Gunson, whatever his mistakes or shortcomings, is undoubtedly a man of outstanding ability. The next “ gamble ” that for the Hauraki candidate, will not seem to those who are familiar with the personal and other factors concerned to have been as fortunate in its result as was the Auckland Suburbs elimination process. There is little doubt that the qualifications of the Hauraki Plains aspirant for political honours are such as to fit him pre-eminently for a seat, and for that particular electorate especially. In the provincial and national interests it is far more important that Hauraki should" be represented by one so fully conversant with its important drainage, roading, water supply and land settlement problems than that a candidate should be chosen whose interests are mainly urban or suburban. Jlowe/er, until the Reform

I Party can find some method of choice , further removed from the hazard of j a game of two-up, or a mere local counting of heads, the matter of quality will be largely left to chance, and in the meantime opponents stand to score. Win or lose at the ballot box, the fact remains that the Reform

choice for Waikato was not the one best calculated to strengthen the mental and administrative capacity and experience of the Government. If there is one lesson above all i others that every political party will be wise to take well to heart, it is that people of New Zealand are not in the mood to become excited about parties: they want men of mental capacity, powers of administration, of forthright honesty in speech and action. Such men will command a good-, following irrespective of the party to which they owe allegiance.

INSTALMENT SYSTEM. EVEN in America,, the home of the instalment purchasing system, a halt is being called, and substantial deposits are now required where formerly little or no money down was essential. Curiously enough, the motor industry, which was the pioneer of the popularisation of hire-purchase, is the first to become cautious. Prof. E. R. A. Seligman, in his Economics of Instalment Selling, insists that at least one-third of the value of a car should be the down-payment. For the most popular type of English car a deposit of 25 per cent is necessary before the agent is permitted to make a deal. It is considered that furniture and other things will follow suit —and about time, too, when we see firms advertising bicycles and gramophones for sale without deposit it is obviously time for some brake to be put upon the economically reprehensible practice of mortgaging the people’s future earnings to that unlimited extent. We want reasonable credit facilities, but too easy accommodation is not a help to the trade, rather a great danger, for when a slump comes there are no savings to draw upon, nor even current earnings, the one having vanished and the other being earmarked. There is no possibility of saving on a resale, for it is pointed out that many used car valuers regard a car as having lost more than a quarter of its value as soon as it has commenced to run on the road. A salesman would require to meet a fool with plenty of money to get full price or anything like it for a used car.

An amusing story is told in the Nation’s Business in regard to instalment selling: “In a certain city In Texas there are eight piano houses. Not long ago, states a recent issue of Nation’s Business, one of them sold a 300 dollar piano to Henry Smith upon a 25 dollar down payment, and, presumably, congratulated itself upon having secured a new customer from whom cash payments would be forthcoming with monthly regularity during the ensuing year. At the expiration of thirty days the instalment due was not received and the piano house sent a collector to secure the money. The collector found that Henry Smith had silently folded his tent and stolen away. The piano, of course, was also among the missing. “ Thus far there is nothing unusual in this story. It is a more of less common occurrence, and the prices of j instalment merchandise are accordly made to allow for losses of this character. These eight piano houses, however, hay! developed the commendable system of monthly checks or comparisons with each other, and at the monthly meeting following the i sale in question it was discovered that j six of the eight piano houses had sold an instrument to the self-same Henry Smith, five of them having accepted a used piano as the down payment. “ Henry Smith had secured a 300 dollar instrument for 25 dollars, traded it to the second store for a 450 dollar piano and received an allowance of 125 dollars. The 450 dollar piano in turn was used as the down payment upon a still more expensive instrument, and so on up the scale until Henry Smith finally achieved a 1250 dollar piano for which he had paid but £25. No trace of Henry Smith has yet been found, sc it is impossible to say whether he kept the 1250 dollar instrument or sold it at a heavy discount to a private buyer for cash. Probably he sold it and profited from 300 dollars to 400 dollars from his month’s operations. Henry Smith had worked out a simple scheme for getting rich quickly at the expense of the instalment seller, a scheme which he could practise profitably not only on pianos but on many other household articles, at little risk to himself.

“ Five of these piano houses found themselves in the awkward position of buyers of stolen merchandise.” The greatest danger, however, is not from the few dishonest persons, but from the multitude of perfectly honest people whom circumstances prevent from fulfilling their obligations.