LABOUR CAMPAIGN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 102, 2 May 1935, Page 10

LABOUR CAMPAIGN.

MR. SAYEGH'S BUSY NIGHT.

CHRISTCHURCH'S EXAMPLE

No fewer than four open-air meetings, at Point Chevalier, Ponsonby, Remuera and Mission Bay, were addressed by Mr. J. Sayegh, the Labour candidate for the city Mayoralty, last evening. In his address, the candidate stressed his contention that Labour had a well defined policy to carry out if returned to power. ,

' In elaborating on the comparison he I had raada the previous evening between the rates levied by the Christchurch City Council in 1930-31, when the Citizens' Association had a majority, and those for the' following four years under Labour administration, Mr. Sayegh quoted the following figures:—-1930-31 (Citizens' administration), £138,878; 1931-32 (Labour administration), £120,157; 1932-33, £113,240; 1933-34, £111,704; 1934-35, £113,198. During the past two yearn, he said, the total general rate levy in Christchurch had been £224,992, a yearly average of £112,490, or £20,383 a year less than the amount collected in 1930-31 when the Citizens' council was in office.

A comparison with other New Zealand centres was then made by the candidate, who quoted the following figures, giving a comparison of rates levied per £1000 of capital value: Christchurch, £7 10/; Wellington, £8 17/3; Palmcrston North, £10 15/2; Wanganui, £12 8/; Duncdin, £12 8/S Auckland, £12 14/0; Kelson, £13 3/9; Invercargill, £13 0/9. Even if the drainage rate were added, he said, Christchurch would still stand the second lowest in the Dominion being just above Wellington, which had an enormous revenue from endowments. \larmist denunciations of Labour rule were unwarranted, for Labour rule spelt solid achievement.