It was a privilege only when it existed by virtue of the possession of some peculiar qualification.
In a democratic country like New Zealand the franchise is a right which may be claimed by every man and woman of mature years. While the enjoyment of the franchise is a right, the exercise of it is a duty.
Upon every qualified elector whose desire it is — as it should be the desire of all — that the affairs of the dominion shall be politically controlled by persons of sound judgement and proved ability, the obligation is clearly imposed to exercise the franchise.
We hear occasionally of a few people who talk more or less seriously of abstaining from voting because there is no candidate in their electorate with whose views they are in agreement.
In every such case the elector should vote for the candidate whose opinions and whose record mark him out as the least ineligible. Otherwise, the elector stultifies himself.
By refraining from recording his voice he may be helping to bring about the return of the most unsuitable of all the candidates for election.
It is the height of unwisdom and it is the plain repudiation of a patriotic duty to waste a vote.
The public has been repeatedly told from the platform that the general election which is being held to-day is the most important in the history of the dominion.
Leaders of the Reform, of the Liberal, and of the official Labour Parties have agreed that the issues for settlement by the new Parliament will be of a grave and momentous character.
Turtles’ fatal migration
It is reported from Armidale, in the north-east, that an unusual discovery has been made along the wire-netting fence between Salisbury and Gostwyck Station.
Thousands of turtles, some dead, some dying, and some as lively as crickets, have been found.
When, under the drought, Dangar’s lagoon dried up, the unhappy turtles started a long trek across country towards the Salisbury Creek, but the journey came to an end against the rabbit-proof fence.
There were signs that the turtles had wandered back and forth along the fence in a vain search for an opening, failing to find which many of them dug themselves in to escape the fierce sun. Those which failed to take this precaution died from exposure.
Please do not call our office
We shall be greatly obliged if the public will refrain from requesting information from us by telephone this evening respecting the results of the polls throughout the dominion.
On general election night the work of the office is carried on under high pressure, and the interruption that is involved in constant attention to calls on the telephone and in supplying information, which we do our best to furnish through the medium of the displays in the streets, is so serious that we find ourselves compelled to request that we may be spared it.
For the same reason we have to announce that our office will be open this evening only to persons who may have business to transact in it.
Provision has been made whereby the candidates will, after the declaration of the polls, be enabled to address the public in front of the Otago Daily Times building.
— ODT, 17.12.1919.
