DR. THACKER'S POLICY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21465, 6 May 1935, Page 17

DR. THACKER'S POLICY

Unemployment Relief Jobs

MUCH USEFUL WORK AVAILABLE As an independent candidate for a j seat on the Christchurch City Council Dr H T. J. Thacker, who is a sitting member, addressed an attentive audience at St. Luke's Church schoolroom on Saturday evening. Dr. Thacker said everyone was speaking about what the Mayor had done in recent years, but he (the speaker) wanted to substantiate his claim in respect of what he had done when Mayor. From 1919 to 192-, Sp-'cydon, St. Martins, Bromley, Woolston, part of Riccarton (Hagley Park), and Papanui had been added to the city; if Spreydon and Woolston we e taken out of the city nour it would make a- big hole that, could not be filled. In the last four years Poetically nothing constructive had been done. Roads had been jmpioved somewhat, and one or two buildings, notably the Art Gallery and the Women's Rest Room in Cathedral square, had been erected. There was unemployment because there were no men at the head oi affairs, either in Parliament or in local bodies, with the skill or sense to sec that work was crying to. be done, no had been trying to convince the City Council that something comprehensive should be undertaken. There was the completion of the South Island M in Trunk railway. The gap oi 50 miles could be completed right along the seaside if two big camps were; established at Kaikoura. one to work south and the other north. He had slated at Kaikoura that £1.500,000 would complete the line and also construct a concrete highway alongside it.

Raising «■ Loan In thesn days £1,500,000 was nothing Mr Forbes while in London would have no difficulty in doing what Mr W D. Lvsnar had done in respect oi the completion of the Napier-Gisborne line Mr Forbes could raise tlic money at 2J per cent, or 3 per ccii . The Unemployment Board had funds in hand, part of which could be used to pay interest and sinking fund. Already, on his motion, the City Council had agreed unanimously to support rne completion of the line. He mtcnaed to ask the Acting-Prime Minister, the Hon. E A. Ransom, to ask Mr Foibes to raise thr loan in London, and. it necessary, let a contract to a private construction firm. Other works that would absorb tic unemployed were the pavnig m Ihe highway from Tai Tapu to Akaioa tho construction of a subsidiary port in the estuary, the construction oi an airport and seaplane base in the estuary, the disposal of the sewage oi the city and surrounding districts by running a mole, say a mile in length, out from New Brighton, and discharging the sewage into the sea, and the elimination of level railway erodings in the city. . Referring to the paving oi the Akaroa highway. Dr. Thacker said that the workers should receive standard wage;,. It was a crime to pin' men .L2_,<s a week The South Island was oeing overlapped by the North Island an . -eemingly those in the South Island did not care. As an instance. he cited the case of the Labour party "etting its election literature printed in Wellington, thus depriving printing establishments in Christchurch that were suffering from the depression ot so much work. That was- tho Labour party. He was glad to see that the Independent Labour party hud had its manifesto printed in Christchurch. Another instance of the I\orth Islam. overlapping, he said, was the action ot the Mavor in buying meat m the North Island and paying freignt on it to Christchurch out Of unemployment funds, and having it sent to Christchurch, when there were men in the city and in Canterbury who were starving because they were not able to self their stock as beef or mutton. They had to watch that the North Island, in its overlapping process, did not impose a flat rale for the supply of electricity to make up. the cost of the expensive North Island hydro-elec-tricity schemes.

Developing the Estuary Instead o£ spending £47,000 on "that miserable causeway," he had advocated the building of a retaining wall from the Healhcote to the point at Kcdchfl's, and the filling in of tlie two chain wide boulevard between Ine wall and the tramway embankment with spoil dredged from the estuary by suction pumps. The sewage tarm was a blot on the city. An area 01 1M or 200 acres could be reclaimed m iiu estuary from the Healhcote bridge farm across to Pleasant Point, whicn would provide sites for an airport and a seaplane base, and the sewage could be disposed of by a mole, run out from the New Brighton foreshort, into the Jr. was no use saying that it was work that the Government or anyone else should do, Dr. .Tracker continued. The thing was to recognise that n there was a job it should be done. JNor was it any use talking of sugar-bag doles and relief depots. He was speaking to them as a doctor, and if a comprehensive job were ma..e of it, m ou years it would be admitted his plan was the right one. Dr. Thacker said that when he was Mayor he did his best to get the I Colombo railway crossing made safe. He thought that all the railway crossings in a big city should be made safe. It had been done in Dunedm, where there were overhead bridges. But in Dur.rdin the citizens ha- had men like the late Sir Thomas Sidey, and like the Hon. Downic Stewart. It was all a matter of "pull." If one wanted to get anything done m Parliament one had to kow-tow 10 Ministers. That was wrong. If the people of the Dominion were like one family, then all should be treated alike. Dr. Thacker was accorded a vote of thanks.

Varied Mattery C'hristchurch had a rubbish destructor and its existence was a scandal, he declared. There were other bad chimnevs, but unless they removed the destructor they could not tell other persons to remove their chimneys. The hospital had a chimney that was an iniquity. He advocated the rcmovel oi garbage to a point on the Harewood road and its disposal in the Waimakariri. Referring to the control of traffic, he said that four years ago, when he was deputy-Mayor, the council had a committee which dealt with tratnc matters and which made recommendations to the finance and by-laws committee. Last council night the Mayor had announced that they must have a standing committee on all traffic- matters which would report direct to the council. ' ■. . j Dr. Thacker advocated the introduction of alternate parking—cars to be allowed to park on one side of the street one week and on the other side the next week. This would permit. h>said, of angle parking, and also would give free access to business premises Speaking of hospital matters, Cr. Thacker urged that the hospital ;ho'i!<; bo a place where the ''i- 1 - ;i '" ' taught about diet and about health matters generally, fro "censoring" of the health committee 01 the council and spoke of the good work done by that committee. He also regretted that the council had done nothing with reference to the embargo on citrus fruits, and expressed the opinion that if people were told how to use potatoes rightly the Dominion could consume all the potatoes it produced. Lfextended report published by Arrangement.]