Many Are Called

New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 222, 24 September 1943, Page 5

Many Are Called

E suspect that it was not altogether to amuse or enrich himself that our contributor B.F. sent us the "Confession of a Defeated Candidate" which we printed in last issue. It probably did amuse him to put his memories on paper, and he may have had a more sanguine view of the rewards of free-lance journalism than his cheque will justify; but"he nowhere said that he thought he had wasted his time. It is not at all likely that he did waste his time, and it is certainly not likely that he was asked to stand for Parliament by a group of irresponsibles. Adventurers do occasionally appear on nomination lists now that there are some compensations for public service, but they do not often get there with the knowledge of their sponsors, and when they do they do not often get any further. It js in fact more true to-day than it ever was before that men are nominated for Parliament because their nominators "sincerely believe that they will do useful public work in Parliament, and not because it would be useful to have them there as dummies or log-rollers. That used to be one of the reasons for sending a man to Parliament, and in the dim origins of Parliamentary government he was there for no other purpose. To-day he is elected for a serious purpose whether it is afterwards misused or not, and no man need blush because he is either asked to stand or agrees to stand and is then rejected. He has kept his part of the bargain made with society when it gave him the franchise and rights of citizenship, and he may go back to his job with a clear conscience. But he will of course go back with less embarrassment if he preserves a sense of: humour throughout his campaign-demands nothing, promises nothing, expects nothing, and remembers that since vox populi is vox dei it will be impious to feel sorry for himself if the voice in his case says No.