MAYOR CHALLENGED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 116, 18 May 1932, Page 9

MAYOR CHALLENGED.

MR. WALLACE INDIGNANT.

OBJECTION TO "PIN-PRICKS."

HOSPITAL BOARD'S BURDEN.

"The Mayor of Auckland has .gone out of his way to discredit the Hospital Board," said Mr. William Wallace, chairman of the board at yesterday's meet- . ing. "If he likes to accept my challenge I am willing to resign the chairmanship of the board and contest it against him. We will then see what the people of Auckland think. I am not here as the nominee of the Auckland City Council or any other body; I am responsible to a higher tribunal —to the people of Auckland." The matter cropped up over a letter from the Auckland City Council, referring to the holding of a conference of local bodies to discuss the Hospital : Board levy, and requesting the chairman of the board to attend and give information concerning the board's finances and policy. "Misrepresentation." Mr. Wallace said that he had stood misrepresentation long enough. He was not going to be dictated to any longer, nor was he going to eat humble pie. The | Mayor of Auckland did not tell the local bodies of the district that the board had relieved them of £20,000 which would have had to be raised by levy. He did not tell the citizens that the City Council had been relieved to the extent of £9000 last year, and he did not tell them of the huge and unprecedented burden of unemployment relief that was thrust on the board by the Government. The citizens of Auckland owed a debt of gratitude to the board. The Mayor's only aim seemed to be to discredit the board. It was time the board's detractors called a halt. No other public body in the Dominion had faced and surmounted the difficulties the Auckland Hospital Board had faced. Mr. Wallace said the question of outdoor relief was getting on his nerves, and it was quite enough to have to cope with it without suffering the pinpricks that some people seemed to delight in inflicting. The Rev. W. C. Wood said the Mayor in his address to the Chamber of Commerce had been using ligures that had not been approved by the board, and they showed the position as really worse than it was. It was unfortunate that the figures had got out, and that they j had been used by the Mayor of Auckland. Mr. Wood strongly objected to the tone of the City Council's letter. It was the tone that might be adopted towards an office boy that had been •milty of some dereliction of duty, but should not be used by one local body to another. Mr. M. J. Savage said he emphatically objected to being dictated to by the City Council. He would be quite willing to debate in the Town Hall with the Mayor or anyone else as to the policy and nuance of the Hospital Board—so long as admission was not by ticket. The council's letter was received, and Mr. Wallace reiterated his challenge to contest his seat with the Mayor of Auckland eo that the people of Auckland could give their verdict. Amplifying his statement this mornin<* Mr Wallace eaid the information respecting an extra £8000 had not been supplied by the secretary or the accountant of the" board. A letter had been sent to the town clerk on April 27 stating, inter alia, that the, board would probably bo able to carry on thie year with the'eame levy ae the previous year, and it concluded by eaying, "you may rest assured that every endeavour will be mnde not to increase the levy to local authorities." The town clerk had also been informed that Mr. Wallaces opinion was that no good purpose coiild be served by convening a meeting of local authorities at the present time, but, if such a meeting were neeeseary, he would be pleased to confer with the Mayor.

Mayor's Explanation. When Mr. Wallace's statements were referred to the Mayor, Mr. Hutchison said the position wae that the council, when preparing its estimates, inquired as to the amount of the Hospital Board levy and the city treasurer was informed that the tentative figure was £56,430— £8200 greater than the previous levy— and he had used the figure quoted in his address to the Chamber of Commerce. He was informed later in the day that the final figure adopted by the Hospital Bbard would probably be less than the amount he had quoted and, as the City Council met the same even in« to pass the estimates, he had reduced the hospital rate from 5Jd to 5d m order to provide for this possibility. Mr Hutchison said his reason for invitin" contributing local bodies to a conference was on account of a request made from one of the local bodies con cerned, and he did not know why there should be such resentment expressed, lhe obiect of the conference was not to subject the board to criticism. "My policy since I became Mayor has been to give the ratepayers the fullest information possible," said Mr. Hutchison. "In pursuance of this policy several public addresses have already been given by officers of the council in respect to civic activities, and two brochures have been published by the council giving the fullest possible information concernin" the council's operations. The conference I have proposed would afford the Hospital Board an opportunity to make known to its contributors the difficulties it has had to face and has still to face. The suggestion that there is any personal feeling in the matter can be entirely eliminated, because none whatever exists."