CITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 12

CITY COUNCIL AFFAIRS

DEMAND FOR ENQUIRY

COMMENT BY MR SULLIVAN

An emphatic reply to those citizens of Christchurch who have been agitating for a public enquiry into the conduct of the city by the Christchurch City Council was made by the Mayor, Mr D. G. Sullivan, M.P., in an address arranged by the Richmond branch of the New Zealand Labour party at the old Richmond school grounds last even ing. Mr Sullivan declared that Labour administration had reduced the general rate in Christchurch by £13,000 a year, and the electricity charges by £60,000 a year. Further, Christchurch was the Iowa; rated city in New Zealand. He asked what justification anybody could have in the face of those facts for charging the council with extravagance. "I should be surprised to learn that any decent citizen of Christchurch has associated himself with those people who have been criticising the City Council and demanding a public enquiry into its affairs.'' Mr Sullivan said. 'The type of person I have in mind as making the criticism is not fit to black the boots of those who have ' een criticised. The City Council is as fine a body as any in Australia or New Zealand and it has a record comparable with any in the whole world. In handling the public funds, in controlling expenditure and in the accomplishment of work, there is no body that could have done better." Mr Sullivan quoted the following figures, supplied to him by an officer of the City Council, in comparison of the rates in Christchurch for £IOOO of capital value with the rates in other centres:—

"These figures show a saving of £13,000," Mr Sullivan continued, "and they are conservative." Charges for Electricity He went on to speak of charges for electricity. "Since Labour came into power, i the cost of electricity to the people has been reduced by £60,000 a year," he said. To be fair to the councillors on the opposite side of the table, he wanted to say that they had given some support to the reductions in electricity charges, but that the reductions had been made was because of the efforts of the Labour party. There was not another local body in New Zealand that could show a record comparable with that of the Christchurch City Council. "When it is considered that these things have been achieved while work has been carried on and wages kept up, it will be realised that the achievement is bigger than it looks. When I say while work has been done, I mean maintaining the parks and reserves, which are the pride of the city, and which are commented on by all visitors to the city who come to the Mayor's room. No community, of course, is satisfied with all its streets, but the streets of Christchurch will challenge those in any other town in New Zealand. And all this has been done without reduction in wages.

Why Wages Were Not Reduced "The Labour party has persistently and relentlessly resisted all attempts to force it to reduce wages. You know the attitude of the Government, of our critics in the newspapers, and of the Tory organisation. The Labour party's reason was not that it wanted to confer special benefits on its employees. Its reason was that it wanted to maintain the principle of decent wages. I venture to say that if it had not been for the attitude of the Christchurch City Council there would not be the movement there is today among business firms and local bodies to restore the salary cuts, or parts of them. If the council had reduced wages, it would have been quoted throughout New Zealand as justification for similar action." Passing to the demand for an enquiry, he asked his audience what the charges were against the council: "I have asked and asked what they are, and who makes them, and when the offences were committed, but nobody will tell me," he said. "They are going to keep that a secret. If they would tell me, we could judge of the situation, and the public could, too. These people who are criticising us hold secret meetings. Who attends them? God only knows. But some of the names I have are among the queerest things I know." Former Complaints He went on to refer to "a former councillor, who used to come along to meetings with long strings of questions which prompted investigations which were not justified." He spoke of an occasion when Mr R. A. Campbell, then professor of engineering at Canterbury College, had been called in to investigate a complaint from this councillor. The complaint had not been upheld. He also spoke of other men whom he described as half-cranky, and fit for an institution. "As far as I know, there is no decent citizen of any political party connected with this demand for an enquiry. But if an enquiry was held, the council would come out with as clear a reputation as any body or any private citizen in the country. And as Mayor, I declare

that I can stand an enquiry into every act in my public life." He added that there might sometimes be errors of judgment in things done. That was, indeed, inevitable. But all accounts of the council were audited by a Government auditor, and if there was only Gd not accounted for satisfactorily an explanation was required.

£ s. d. Palmerston North .. 10 15 2 Dunedin .. 12 9 9 Nelson .. 13 3 9 Wellington 8 17 5 Wanganui .. 12 8 0 Auckland .. 12 14 5 Invercargill .. 13 6 9 Christchurch 7 16 0 The total amount of rates collected over a serie: ; of years in Christchurch compared as follow rs: — £ s. d. 1926-27 125,215 6 2 1927-28 125,182 0 0 1928-29 125,454 0 0 1929-30 148,229 0 0 1930-31 138,878 0 0 1931-32 126,157 0 0 " 1932-33 113,249 0 0 1933-34 111.794 0 0