THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 468, 25 April 1919, Page 2

THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

On Wednesday, April 30th, when the municipal elections take place, the residents of the borough of Pukekohe will be called upon to vote for candidates nominated for the most important civic positions in the town. While we have no intention whatever of presuming to give advice as to which of the candidates would prove the most suitable for office, we are in duty bound, however, to make a few pertinent general observations. In the first place, it goes almost without saying that merit is the first essential to be considered. Unfortunately, mere popularity often secures a seat for a man who has no other claim to support, but, in a surely rising: town like Pukekohe, the great requirement must always be for men possessing qualities ot foresight, moral courage, public spirit, and an enthusiastic determination to advance the interests of the town by i every conceivable means that can I

be " justified by honour." As in the larger sphere of national politics, there are generally circles and cliques at work, on the " You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" species of opportunism, which vicious coteries put personal interest and aggrandisement before the public weal. Now, we have no hesitation whatever in forecasting that within the next decade Pukekohe will make just as great progress as it has done in the past. In the happy situation of being a distributing centre for a very large and fertile district, it cannot fail to prosper. Moreover, the development of Auckland city is assuredly going to bring our town, at no very distant date, next to, or perhaps within, the suburban area of the Queen City. We can well imagine the scoffs and sneers of the sceptics and pessimists on reading this statement, but we would Invite them to cast their minds back ten years, and recollect what a meagre village Pukekohe was in those days, and then to ask, in their own hearts, if our optimism is unjustifiable ! It follows, therefore, that to make tke most of the opportunities waiting to be grasped, we need public men possessing a] little vision, and the executive ability to convert anticipations into realizations. Among the primary needs of the town are proper drainage and up-to-date sanitary systems, without which the place can never hold its own as a residential area. There are several other matters we might touch upon, such as the housing problem—partly caused by the exorbitant price of corrugated iron, the fact that the Government allows millions of feet of building timber to be exported annually, thus inflating local prices and making building almost prohibitive—but pressure on our space in this issue forbids. Nevertheless, we trust that we have said enough to impress upon the minds of all progressive electors the desirability, nay, necessity, of voting for the most capable men among those offering their services.