LOCAL ELECTIONS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20828, 11 April 1933, Page 10

LOCAL ELECTIONS.

SOCIALIST PARTY. ..SPEECHES BY CANDIDATES. ' "We make no apology in coming out as the Socialist party to contest seats on the City Council and other Joeal bodies, because we declare that we have the only solution that can be placed on an educative basis, to meet the necessities of this depression," said Mr W. T. Conibear, the chairman of the outdoor meeting outside the Papanui Hall last night, which was addressed by the candidates of the party for seats on the Christchurch City Council and other local bodies. The audience was a timall one. Mr W. Berryman, who is standing for the council, said that there was no hope outside of Socialism, and Socialism could be got in a few days if the working people made up their minds to get it. There must be a reorganisation of society. Tho shops in the best part of Christchurch could sell articles made by cheap foreign labour; he thought that it would be better if they were reserved for the sale of New Zea-land-made goods. Subsidy on Wages Denounced. In introducing Mr F. H. Grant, who is standing for the council, the chairman said that he was president of the unemployed workers' organisation and had been vice-president of the Miners' Federation on the West Coast. Mr Grant said he did not seek civic honours on his own behalf, but because he realised that he had a duty to the unemployed of Christchurch. He failed to see, under present conditions, and 'in the present administration, how things could be improved. Two years ago candidates for the council promised to maintain wages by subsidising the amount paid by the Unemployment Board; that was very good and a very noble idea, but a very non-useful one for the unemployed The result was that a man with a wife and two children, whose wages were subsidised, and who had to pay unemployment tax and levy, received £5 13s 3d a month, while a man with the same dependents on any other relief job in Christchurch got £6 6s a month. Under the subsidy, the Unemployment Board was relieved from paying 16s 2Jd a month in respect of these men.

"AnjOia Fossil." Mr W. H. Bayard, who is stand- j ing for the council, was introduced j a3 one who had been connected with the Sociailist party of Great Britain for 50 years, and was still a fighter. Mr Bayard said that some thought that Socialism was a Utopian dream. It always seemed marvellous to him that the great fundamental Socialist never attained the age of 77 (which was his own age), but was crucified at the age of 33. Some considered that the sacred right of property was the most divine right; he dissented from that view and held that the greatest of all property was the human being. One of the things that had taught him Socialism was the experience of his mother—a wealthy woman—in Paris, during the war of 1870, when she paid half-a-crown for a rat for her Christmas dinner. Very reluctantly, as "an old fossil," he was a candidate, but as a soldier of industry he obeyed orders, and he was standing because he thought he could assist the younger brethren. The worker today was being shackled, hand and foot, and was being victimised. Individuals could not be blamed; it was the system that was to blame. No Linking up With Labour Party. Mr C. F. Pryke, who is standing for the Lyttelton Harbour Board, said that he was out fighting on behalf of Port Christchurch and the unemployed. Independent of what they might have read as to the Labour party and the Socialist party linking up, he could tell them that the linking up was very distant and the link was very weak. As secretary of the Socialist party he had received no correspondence on the subject and he disregarded the verbal opinions of individuals. The statement was untrue, and was made for the purpose of getting electors of Christchurch to oppose the Socialist party. He spoke at some length on the advantages of Port Christchurch. It was no use saying that they were not revolutionary; they were all revolutionary because they were attempting to do something for the people and not for the Individual. Reduction of Wages. Mr L. Warburton, who is standing for the council, spoke on the necessity for introducing the shorter working week. Regarding the wages and salaries of the City Council's employees, he said that if a person had a limited income it was unwise to live beyond it. The average wage of a person engaged in industry to-day was £3 17s, but the wages of the City Council's employees exceeded that amount and they were being paid at a rate that could not be afforded. Under present conditions they would have to be prepared to receive a lower wage in order that others might benefit.

Women Candidates. Mrs J. Grant, who is standing for the Hospital Board, said that her first duty, if elected, would be to see that the unemployed received better treatment than in the past. That men, women, and children in Christchurch and elsewhere in New Zealand were going hungry and illclad was a lasting disgrace. Her hearers would have an opportunity , on May 3, to say whether .they desired the cheese-paring policy of " officials to continue. The Socialist party maintained that hospital treatment should be free and that to meet the cost a capital charge should be levied on industry. Mrs L. Hayes, also a candidate for the Hospital Board, spoke briefly, and aaid that she was keenly interested in the sufferings of the working class to which she herself belonged. It was not.sympathy that the unemployed needed, but practical help and leadership.

RICCARTON BOROUGH. DESIRE TO AVOID AN ELECTION. ipeaking of the probable candidature of Mr T. J. Stokes (Labour) and Mr F. Fernandez (Independent) for the Riccarton Borough Council at the coming general election, announced on, Saturday, Mr R. Hepburn, president of the Riccarton Citizens' Association, stated yesterday {ftjat the ratepayers of the borough were extremely well ■Btisfled with the work performed

by the present council and did not desire any change. Moreover there was a general feeling in the borough that it was most de Sl rable to avoid the expense of a contested election and to secure the return of the present council unopposed, and the association hoped that this would be possible. He would not say anything further in the meantime, as the matter would be considered by the executive of the association after the nominations had closed, and the position was definitely known. LABOUR CANDIDATES. Labour candidates for seats on the Christchurch City Council and other local bodies will address public meetings to-morrow evening at 7.30 o'clock in the Woolston, Addington, and East Christchurch schools. CANDIDATE NOMINATED. The first nomination for a seat on the Christchurch City Council at the approaching election, was received by the Returning Officer (Mr J. S. Neville) yesterday. It was that of Mr P. R. Needham, who is standing as an independent.