The Wairoa Bell, AND Hobson County Gazette. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd.

Wairoa Bell, Volume IV, Issue 161, 2 September 1892, Page 4

The Wairoa Bell, AND Hobson County Gazette. FRIDA Y, SEPTEMBER 2nd.

The Electoral Bill now before the House contains a clause which gives candidates the use of public school buildings for election purposes at a cost sufficient only to cover the expense of lighting and cleaning. The clause originally allowed the use absolutely free but it was amended as above at the suggestion of the Premier, and so passed through Committee after considerable opposition. The object of the clause is to render contested elections cheaper to candidates, and is one of some importance if laDouring men are to have an opportunity of securing seats in Parliament. The recent elections in the Home Country are estimated to have cost 4s 6d per vote, and this sum, which would amount to an enormous total, is small in comparison with that of previous elections, some of which are said to have cost as high as £l3 per vote. New Zealand elections are not as costly as this, but yet have been too expensive for many pockets. Any measure making the road to political work more available to Labour with brain but no capital is deserving of the support ot the Liberal party and all who seek their country’s good rather than the interests of a few.

The objections raised by those who opposed the use of public schools being granted for such purposes were however of considerable weight and we doubt the propriety of the clause referred to, and consider that the matter would have been better left in the hands of School Committees. One member cited an instance where the walls of a school were plastered with rotten eggs at an election meeting. School buildiugs themselves probably will not suffer much by the passing of such a clause, but judging from our experience of the effects of the annual meetings of householders held in schools we feel confident that election meetings will do much damage to school furniture and appliances, and greatly inconvenience the working ofschools. The short American desks, which in most country districts are not fastened to the floor, are not suited for crowded meetings of men in election humour, and the slates, books, ink and pencils of the scholars would probably be much knocked about. We have seen broken slates and disfigured desks (cut and scribbled on) as the results of householders’ meetings and we feel sure that meetings of electors would produce much injury to school property. In granting the use of school buildings for election meeting the Bill imposes upon Committees the necessity of extra work with no compensation, for it would be necessary to have some one present at each meeting to look after the buildings and furniture. We can imagine, too, the the chagrin of those teachers who take a pride in making the interior of their schools beautiful and attractive, often at the cost of much labour and expense, at the intrusion of an indifferent, and often unruly crowd of excited electors into their room of the decorations of which they are justly proud. If the buildings are to be compulsorily thrown open then a clause should be added to secure the attendance of a constable at the meeting to look after the properties in the schools. Taken altogether we consider this clause of the Bill as of some slight pecuniary benefit to a few candidates, but one likely to cause much inconvenience, annoyance, and probable loss to many other persons. Let the matter remain as before and then the usCoi' buildings can be granted by Committees or not as the interests of the school dictate. Those who seek to represent the people should not object to tha simple matter of the letting of schools being left in the hands of the people-