MAYOR REPLIES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19725, 16 September 1929, Page 11

MAYOR REPLIES.

♦ CRITIC ISM OF CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION. JtABOLK iOI'NC'IL DEFENDED. Citizen a' Association obviously tMiists of the same old crowd of deadktwdl. They're the sort of people who, politically, would have murdered Richard John Heddon un.t Sir Joseph Ward In their really radical days," said the Mayor (Mr J. K. Archer) on Saturday Is referring to the remarks made at lit« annual mating of the Christchurch ClUlseus' Association on Friday night. Mr Arclier said that it was natural tint Mr J. A. FWhcr should spread Unwell" when in such company, and he was no moro scrupulous than usual as to the accuracy of his statements. •His suggestion that wo are fostering Mtvplojuieut by the payment of award rata* of wages is proved to be absurd by the fact that unfortunately UKduployuHntt is just as acute in those where award wages are not said Mr Archer. "Mr Flesher's reference to the fact tbat the pusvkius Council raised an untnplo)it'vtit relief loan is highly amuatug, lie<'uutu nil his crowd were just as 3 posed to the raising of the loan as iv were to anything else. Moret<r»r, his reference to our using the iaaj>i'i-M of one of our departments inIt4a<! <it" raising a loan is misleading, it rtugjf»•*(.•», though it does not matt, that tho Council made u raid for atjwlUUh, lvhereas he kuOWLfull well <talra« Council simply rained a loan th- department instead of Ut twdb another source, and is payiug W* Vth interest and sinking fund. "Ba aim isaion that he had to agree

to some increase in the rates proves his folly, and the folly, of those who acted with him, in pledging themselves not to make any increase. As a matter of fact the rates either had to be in-» creased or else Christchurch had to remain stagnant, and our citizens will have to decide which they prefer.- His tilt at the City Engineer's department, like that of Mr Acland, overlooks the fact that far more work is being done there now than ever before in its historv. Some reorganisation may bd possible, but that does not justify a campaign of misrepresentation. "Mr Acland's outburst is just what one would expect from a reactionary lil* 3 him, and as for Mr Hay ward, what he knows about municipal politics could all be forgotten without any loss to the community. "In order to create prejudice, Mr Ilayward quotes extreme cases of increases in rates,-but I have been approached by a considerable number of people who are rejoicing over the fact that their rates have been reduced.

"These political partisans of the Citizens' Association are not out for the good of the City as they claim to be, but for a merely vicious attack upon the Labour movement in its application to civic life. They're always suggesting that wo introduced, Party politics into municipal life, when as a matter of fact they have never operated on any other principle, and at the last municipal elections, so far as the Mayoralty was concerned, they not only introduced Party politics, but also the bigger bugbear of sectarianism." Councillor Sullivan's Comments. Cr. D. G. Sullivan, M.P., chairman of the Finance Committee of the City Council, also criticised the statements made at the meeting. "Mr Ktesher admits that he and his friends on th© City Council "broifee their pledge to the electors; that there was no escape from compulsion to increase the expenditure and the rates," said Cr. Sullivan. "Having admitted that, he asks the ratepayers to punish the Labour Council at the next elections for something to which he and his party plead guilty. Could unfairness or insincerity go further?"

Proceeding, Cr. Sullivan stated that Mr riesher'a exact words, as reported, were: "I admit that I was elected to the Council pledged to keep down the rates or general purposes, but I make this open confession, that there were a number of extraordinary items that had to bo met, and we could not get out of an increase.'' "That is what Mr Flesher said in the early part of his speech," continued Mr Sullivan. "Then he forgot what he had said previously and said this: 'The rate demands sent out in the past few days had awakened a lot of people to the danger that threatened them, and he had met numbers of people who had voted for the Labour candidates in the past bnt said they would never do so again.' "This unfairness, this inconsistency, this forgetfulness, as reflected in 'Mr Flasher's attitude is typical of all our opponents. They did not say at the Council table what items they would cut out of the estimates. Will they say now what items they will cut outt Do they want us to dismiss our workers, thereby adding to the unemployment difficulties, and at the same time curtail necessary services! "Mr Flesher and his party are just as responsible as the Labour Party for the increase in the rates. Mr Flesher's own words, as quoted, prove this. .They are actuated by bias, by an intolerable resentment at the success of the Labour Council, for wh«n other local authorities in the City, controlled by their own representative*, increase rates they have not a Vord to say against the action of these bodies, as for instance the Waimakariri Biver Trust, which is collecting nearly *£2ooo more than it requires." Mr Sullivan "concluded by quoting a case of a small residential property in Wellington, the rates in respect of which had gone up considerably in the last ten years. The Hgures in this connexion were:— £ s. d. 1919 .. .. 6 10 8 1920 .. .. 7 10 8 1021 .. .. 7 11 6 1922 .. .. 7 10 10 1923 .. .. 9 1 11 1924 . .. 9 13 6 1925 .. .. 9 18 1 1926 .. .. 10 15 10 1927 ... 11 0 3 1928 .. .. 11 7 5 *929 .. .. 15 8 1