MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24261, 19 May 1944, Page 6

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Sir,—"Pill-Box” of your May 16 issue should absorb some of the puls from his box, and it may tone up his liver a little and make him think more clearly, and he might even pluck up courage td sign his name. The following figures may enlighten _ Pul-Box in regard to rates, as the highest rale levied during the term of the Labour council from 1938 to 1941 was 3§ of a penny and produced £157,889. The latest rate of the present Citizens’ council is 3id and estimated to produce £169,270, an increase of £11,381. The Labour council, in its rate, put £12,000 in reserve for centennial bath and £16,000 for relief of unemployment, The Citizens’ Council had neither of these matters to contend with, and for the first time paid nothing into the Employees’ Accident Fund, which saved it approximately £4OOO. Yours, etc., E. PARLANE. May 18, 1944. Sir,—Mr Hiram Hunter, in his reply to my statement that the Citizens’ Association is controlled by other bodies, attacks the method of financing the Labour Party. Everyone knows that the Trade Unions and the Union Fedare integral parts of the structure of the Labour Party and consequently assist in financing it. We do not wish to hide that fact; it is the Citizens' Association which attempts to hoodwink the citizens by stating that it has no relationship with party politics. In reference to the disaster to the workers of the Labour Government’s legislation, I leave that to the judgment of the voters who returned the Labour Government, to the trade unionists who have the 40-hour week and social security, to the delegates from all the free countries of the world who voted the Hon. Walter Nash as chairman of the International Labour Conference held recently at Philadelphia, in appreciation of the New Zealand Government’s social legislation.— Yours, etc., GEO. MANNING. May 18, 1944, Sir,—Would Mr Macfarlane answer the following questions:—(l) Will Mr Macfarlane deny that the Labour policy adopted some years ago and never repudiated since is "One man, one job”? (2) Will Mr Macfarlane deny that things have changed since Messrs Flesher, Sullivan, and Thacker were Mayors, and in that period the coun-’ try was not at war? (3) Will Mr Macfarlane deny that during his term of office as Mayor important matters were frequently held up owing to his absence from the city in Wellington and elsewhere? (4) Will Mr Macfarlane deny that in any case if the city has the choice, of a part-time Mayor and a highly capable full-time Mayor, it is in its best interests to secure the fulltime one?— Yours, etc., EFFICIENCY. May 18, 1944,