Untitled

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 289, 26 April 1911, Page 4

THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. We had thought that with the advent of the Municipal Progressive Association new life and interest would be infused into municipal affairs, particularly into to-day's'municipal election, but realisation has not altogether followed expectation. True, there are contests in two of the wards, almost an unheardof thing before, and this is gomething to be thankful for. Few of the aspirants, to municipal honors, however, have thought it worth while to place their views be>. fore ratepayers. Excepting that a section of the candidates are the nominees of the Progressive Association, whose programme they support, ratepayers would, in a large measure, be in ignorance of the views of the candidates. For the Western Ward, five gentlemen offer their services. Three of them, viz., Messrs G. W. Browne. H. J. Gilbert and J. T. Mannix, have served on the old Council, whilst Mr. J. C. Morey, one of the other two, is a former councillor, and the other, Mr. N. T. Maunder, has served the public in several capacities in other districts. They are all enlightened and progressive men, so far as we know, and ratepayers will have some difficulty in "sorting out" the three required to fill the positions. We would be extremely sorry, however, if Mr. Browne were passed over. That gentleman we have always regarded as one of the most useful and conscientious members of the Council, subordinating his own interests to those of the community, if not frequently sacrificing them, and managing the electrical department with ability and success. In the Central Ward, ratepayers will be called upon to select three out of the four offering, viz., Messrs Walter Ambury, Jas. Clarke, H. Stocker, and Jos. West. The first-named three comprise the Progressive Association's "ticket," whilst Mr. West is an old councillor, Mr. Ambury is a valuable man in any concern, and his ability and popularity will doubtless ensure his election, Messrs Clarke and Stocker are brainy, pushing young men, who have already made their mark in the commercial life of the town. Mr. Clarke was a member of the old Council. The fight will probably rage aroiind the candidatures of Messrs Stocker and West. The latter, as an old councillor, has done some good work; if erring at all it has been on the side of caution. We are sorry that there is to be no election for the other ward, not that we have any ■ particular fault to find with the gentlemen who have come forward and been elected unopposed, but because the wider the Tange of candidates, the better the results, generally speaking. Besides, one does not like to see uncontested elections, for it betokens civic apathy and indifference. This should not be at a ! time like the present, when we are on the eve, if the signs do not mislead one, of an era of important development, due to harbor improvements, and the opening of Taranaki's great hinterland country, not to speak of the success of oil or ironsand operations, both of which must now be reckoned upon as potential factors, whilst two questions of far-reaching importance have to be faced almost immediately—amalgamation and trams. It is necessary, therefore, that the destinies of the town should be in the hands of the ablest men we have. And so far as to-day's elections arc concerned, the selection is entirely in the hands of burgesses themselves.

from Ottawa showing that the Rev. C. W. Gordon, "a well-known novelist," has been called upon to arbitrate in the Western Canadian miners' strike, and te gibe at the incident by suggesting that a lawyer would be a fit and proper person to plan the Houses of Parliament and an architect a valuable addition to the medical staff of a hospital. The profession of letters is the property of no class. Many clerics have earned greater fame as novelists than as churchmen, And at any rate the preaching of a sermon and the writing of a book or an article are allied tasks. Politicians of great note, diplomatists, soldiers, and others whose "groove" has been of a serious nature, have so frequently contributed to fiction that one almost feels that the ''hobby" mid not the groove is the true "metier." One knows Conan Doyle for his stories, and not his medical skill; nobody worries about Rider Haggard as an official, but as the writer of wonderful imaginative stories, although he was called upon to draw up a report on British agriculture. We almost forget Lord Lytton as a diplomat, but remember him as a powerful novelist; the parson is lost in the novelist when lan Maclaren is considered, and so on. The list might be extended indefinitely. The world owes most to "cobblers who have not stuck to their lasts," and to : the "stones" that have rolled. Tmagine I Grey sticking religiously to his soldier- | ing, Clive refusing to "roll," "Fighting Mac" for ever behind a draperv counter, Carnegie anchored to his Scotch village, Seddon living and dying at St. Helens. It is a fascinating mental exercise to run the mind's eye over the list of the people one knows and to notice how many —especially the successful ones—have both "rolled" and have refused to "stick to the last."