Although we have now entered upon the month in which the municipal elections are to be held, there is so far virtually no evidence of a desire on the part of such "new blood'' to shed itself upon the altar of public service. In the circumstances interest should attach to the announcement by the Expansion League of its intention to hold a public meeting this evening with the object which is sufficiently expressed in the statement that "nothing short of a definitely pledged `ticket' or platform of thoroughly united and progressive men will avail to carry out the programme of development and extension along the many lines of civic enterprise which is recognised on all hands as being absolutely essential to the prosperity of Dunedin.'' It must be generally agreed that it is very desirable that the Council should include the best selection possible of available men of business experience and progressive ideas who would be capable of guiding to the best advantage the many undertakings for the control and development of which the Corporation is responsible. Citizens who in the past have found reason to criticise strongly the policy of the municipal authorities are afforded an opportunity by the elections to offer the community the benefit of their clearer vision, their experience, and their judgement. A proportion of business men who would be a valuable addition to the Council are no doubt disqualified by virtue of their interest in companies which have contractual relations with the Corporation, but their number cannot be large, and there are a great many persons of proved ability who, if they only had the inclination to serve the public, have sufficient leisure to admit of their doing so.
Milk price and prohibition
A dairy farmer who delivers milk to a number of customers in Dunedin has represented to us that, in the event of national prohibition being carried, the milk supply will be affected through the inability of the dairymen to secure from the breweries the "grains'' that are fed to the milking cows. He states that the extra cost of feeding the dairy herds, if "grains'' should become unprocurable, will be considerable and that this, together with the diminution in the quantity of milk obtained from the cows if they are deprived of a form of food that is greedily consumed by them, must cause an advance in the price of milk, with the possible result that children and infants will be stinted in a necessary article of diet.
North Otago farmers want rain
The cry of the farmers is for rain (according to the Oamaru Mail), and unless that cry meets with an early response the position in regard to winter feed will become serious, for grass, rape, and turnips have gone off badly. In a few places showers of rain fell at the end of the week, but they were of a purely local character, and not sufficient to do much good. What makes the situation worse is that frosts have come in early, and on Saturday morning the ground was quite white in many localities. Thus, if much rain was experienced frosts would be likely to prevent much growth of vegetation. - ODT, 2.4.1919.
