THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1912. MAYORALTY ELECTIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10610, 17 April 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1912. MAYORALTY ELECTIONS.

Move than .usual-interest, us centred in !tho Mayoral elections in the cities of New Zealand tlii& year, by reason of the fact that the Labour Party is endeavouring to capture the Chief EMla.gLstraices. What particular objective the Laboar Party has, is difficult to discover. The Mayor of a City does not control the policy ocf 'tlie civic fatherhood. He is merely an executive officer who, with the assistance of the paid officials, .sees thatthe directions of the City Council are | (given effect ito. The Mayor has to preside at all .meetings, it is true, and it is expected of hiin tihat he .shall take a lead in 6oeial functions and be prepared to receive iamd entertain dis-. languished, visitors, slioukT occasion \arise. Tlie qualities necessary in the ideal Mayor of a Oity should there-' tfore be a judicial mind, impartial administrative ability, and a quiet dignity becoming one who has to deal with important personages and pub-, lice-vents. There is no reason why a representative of the Labour Party should not possess the whole of these qualities. At the same time, there can be no special reason why the Labour Party should have a. monopoly of :those virtues. Nor, indeed, can it-hero Jbe any justification 'for Labour or any other section of a community attempting to place a class representative in the chair. The Mayor. should represent all classes—rich and I poor, great- and small. The attitude

of itho Labour Farty in selecting candidates from its own ranks, ami in 'running 'flicm for the Mayoralty, ran only be attributed to a desire to rob the" Chief Magistracy of its proper functions, and to utilise it for personal aggrandisement. If, by any circumstance, this desire be gratified, a severe blow will be cast sit the system of .municipal government. A party, or class, which would subordinate .the position cf Mayor to its own eelfish considerations, would pave the way to the establishment of a system akin to American "graft." Once this fivstK.ii gains a foothold in the Dominion, it is. good-bye. to ithe purity of municipal.government. For. this reason, if for no other, it is to be hoped that the .Labour Party will abandon its proposal to support candidates for •the Mayoralty whose chief qualification for the position is- their loyalty ifo 'a particular cause. If the City Councils, .as at present composed, are not sufficiently representative of tslie views of the people, and do not administer the Municipal Corporations Act in a sane and equitable manner, it 'is the duty and the privilege of the burgesses to effect an alteration when the proper time arrives. As the Mayor of a City as not in a position to dictate the policy of his Council, it is a-ib.surd to suppose that the election cf a representative cf any particular creed or class could influence the administration in one way or another. It is the duty of the (burgesses, therefore, be they labourites or. capitalists, to select for the Chief Magistracy men of high character and ability, men who would lend dignity to the chair, and .whose first and only ctansideilatiion would be the advancement of the interests of the community as a whole. '