THE WAIHAO ELECTION.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 292, 6 December 1902, Page 3

THE WAIHAO ELECTION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In a letter published in the papers and since then posted individually to the electors, Mr J. F. Douglas emphasises hi* proposal to pay the chairman and members of the County Council for their services, and says that this county has no justification for expecting its members to devote time and energy to the public service at a loss (a very considerable oue) to themselves, while numerous County Councils pay their representatives. This sordid view of the relalon of representative men to the public is one o' the meanest features of colonial public life and is fostered by' the doings of our members in Parliament, often times exhibited in a way to disgust all right thinking men. It tends to the creation of a low das* of intriguers for power, a d deadens all sentiment of pride as the chosen recipients of public trust- I believe I am right in saying that with the exception of the Lord Mayor of London (who has an allowance for his special expenditure) all the Mayors and Councillors and all the Sheriffs throughout England give their services without remuneration and men of ability are never wanting to accept office. It was as Mayor of Birmingham that the Hon. Joseph Chamberlain first signalised hia great capacity. Mt Douglas also states that other County Councils pay their representative* and that there are special provisions made in the Couniies Act for ohis purpose. On the other hand I have heard it stated by several parties that the Act does not allow it and that he might have spared hia agitation. Will he quote the special provisions he speaks of ? As there is to be a contest it may influence the result, —I am, etc., A Waihao Elector,