CANDIDATES FOR THE COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2444, 24 April 1915, Page 8

CANDIDATES FOR THE COUNCIL

, MR. J; PULLER'S CAMPAIGN. ■ Mr,; Jbh"n ; Fuller, junior, a member of the present Wellington City Council, who is again'contesting a seat on the Corporation executive, addressed a large attendance'of electors in the New Century Hall last evening. He received an excellent . hearing, and at the conclusion of his speech' he wa6 accorded a-.hearty vote of. thanks,and confidence. -_ Mr;' . Fuller \ opened his address by giving the gathering an idea of the conduct and proceedings of City Council meetings; - One reform, he said, ho desired to see •. brought. about, was the careful selection of councillors for the various committees. At present the the committee seemed to be arranged by the Mayor and the Town Clerk,-.whereas trouble should be expended, in' Order to get councillors on committees for which they were suited. Further, he would endeavour: to institute; a system of having the minutes of meetings printed and circulated to councillors and. Press before the meetings, because he was. dissatisfied with the [resent perfunctory of approving the. records of the council's proceedings.' -Mr.-Fuller, touching on the matter of trainway' improvements, said that for some years he had collected information and stirred up ; those in authority until at last a good' many reforms had been, put. into operation. Wellington uow;had : a,.very fine tram service, but' thero were improvements yet to be fought for. In the .past he had striven to get tramway concessions in. fares, and he thought that at the present time it. was absurd not to give fourteen rides .for the shilling «irds. On the subject of milk supply, Mr. Fuller said that it appeared that reform was at hand, and for that the publio had a great deal to thank the Press. One of the troubles was that there had been an overlapping of control. He had questioned'the officer who scrutinised the' dairies in and about •the'city, and that officer had assured him that there fwas not a dirty dairy in Wellington. . Dri Armstrong, of the Sydney Health Offices, who was in touch' is done in other places, and the various' methods employed,said on [ the milk supply subject: "With regard to milk supply, I am perfectly satisfied that the-system adopted in Sydney is the best practicable. It consists, briefly, in the inspection of all dairy cattle and the licensing of the pastures. This goes' a long way in the - direction of ensuring pure milk ' production, and the vigilance of the inspectors,, together with heavy fines imposed where convictions for adulteration, are .obtained against retailers, helps materially ■ to keep, it pure,": Continuing, Mr. Fuller said that .the council'had no power to license the faimß from which the milk was obtained. . This should be made possible, 1 and the council should bo able to license the railway, trucks, also. Then if there was a system of thorough inspection, Wellington woiild get milk which could at least be termed .pure milk for adults.' . 'Pure" milk-was sp essential to . infants that the council should arrange to have pure milk supplied free to those Who could not afford to buy it. He thought the clearinghouse theory would not work out well in. practice; be reckoned that heavily penalising people who adulterated milk would be more effective than a municipal system, which might turn out to be nothing more than fad and folly. . ' Before concluding, the candidate said that he would continue his efforts to have Oriental Bay. improved; and he said that .ho favoured definite measures I for. the abolition of the 6lum area.

MR. M. F. LUCKIE AT KELBURN.

' Mr. M. F. Luckie, who seeks reelection to the council, addressed a meeting at Kelburn last night. Referring j to the sound condition _ of the finances of, the City, he pointed out that v while : the assets ' were over £3,300,000, exclusive of the reserves, which had not been valued, the liabilities were £1,900,000, and this liability was being-constantly reduccd by payments from revenue for sinking funds of over £20,000 per year. 'The tramways showed a profit of over £15,000, though £27,000 had been expended out of revenue in the manufacture of new cars, duplications, and extensions of permanent way, and other improvements, which all went to increase tho capital value of the tramways assets, 'l'he electric lighting department showed a profit of £10,000, although £17,500 had been expended in additions to plant and extension of mains. These improvements would allow the public to look forward to a further decrease in the cost of lighting. lu the tramway department the principle had been established since 1912 of setting aside £500 a year to cover depreciation, and this fund now amounted to £20,700, all well Invested. About £■10,000 had been expended last year in street works, and about half of that mm had been spont in the City propor, the rest going to the outlying districts. He commohded the new policy of Lho council by which it bad' resumed control .of tho Town Belt, eradicated the soree,

and planted some 60,000 trees. This I planting of some of our'hillsides with trees would vastly improve the appear- | ance of our open spaces in a few years. He was strongly in favour of the acquisition of tho Orongoroiigo catchment area to assure an abundant water supply for the City for many years to come. In future tho council should take into consideration the permanent paving of the principal streets, tho provision of better means of road access to the outlying districts, such as Roseneath, Kelburn and Vogeltown, tho further improvement of tramway communication between the City and Northland, Karori, .and other outlying districts, experience having shown that the judicious expenditure of money in this direction was good business for the City. He believed that the increased valuesi of property and the increased rentals derived from City should m th 6 future enable the council to oairy out its annual works with revenue, and at the same time to reduco the raites. MR. J. E. FITZGERALD'S CAMPAIGN. Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald, who is a candidate for election, to the City Council and the Harbour Board,, addressed a meeting of electors at Kelburn last night. As chairman of the Outlying Districts Committee of the council he challenged vhe accuracy of some of the statements made by new candidates concerning the alleged neglect of suburban districts. As proof that the interests of the.outlying districts were not being neglected, he quoted the following/figures, all referring to last year: Island Bay: Rates, collected, £2702; amount expended, £4525. Ohiro District: Rates, . £2337; expenditure, £3617. Kelburn:; Rates, £1508; expenditure, £1523. Northland: Rates, £1778; expenditure, £2598. Kilbirnie, Hataitai, and Maranui: Rates, £5166; expenditure, £9553, Roseneath: Rates. £585; expenditure, £940. Wadestown: RatesV £1629; expenditure, £2314.' In addition, of the amounts quoted the sum' of £2760 had been expended on reserves at Kilbirnie and Lyall Bay. He i strongly advocated the construction of .topid baths in .-the City. In spite of many drawbacks during the past year, the tramways had been entirely successful from a business point of view.' There was still need for how cars, but tho shortage was attributable to the compulsory alteration _ of old cars to make them' comply with the Davey clause having retarded the building programme. ' New cars were still needed, and.to enable the best use to be made of them certain duplications of track should be made.

He also advocated the . permanent paving of some 'of the principal' streets and those taking tie heaviest traffic. This would result in a saving. of maintenance, and in better cleanliness in the City. The old council, he pointed out, had done valuable work in safeguarding the public ta.the matter,of the under which pork might be offered for sale. Precautions against the slaughter and sale of diseased animals, and against uncleanly handling of .the meat, had formerly been very lax, but now the public were adequately protected. The new council, he said, would find it necessary in order to keep tip a'proper rate of progress in carrying out some of the most important and necessary of the works to be done tt> raise a loan as soon as the state of the money market would allow of it. MB. THOMPSON'S VIEWS. Councillor W. J. Thompson, in his address 1 at Kelburu Schoolroom last' evening, mentioned that he had represented the-citizens on the City Council for soino years, and was again willing to accept the responsibilities,' feeling that his experience would enable him to be of greater service than before. He gave an insight into ' the methods of conducting the work of the council through the various committees, - and showed that it was really by the committees that the important work of the city was done.. In addition to attending over; 90 committee meetings during the past nine months there was at' least one public meeting,' and often' two, every fortnight. As a member of the Public Gardens and Reserves Committee, which deals with -this branch.of Che corporation's activities, he had done all in his power to further the interests of the city, in this matter; In addition to the Reserves and Public Gardens, he was also a member of the following committees By-laws, Fire Brigade and Street Lighting, Tramways and Power Stations, Outlying Districts,' and elso v the 6ub-committees of the Zoo, Day's-Bay, and Golf. Wood-blocking the principal streets was a matter that must be undertaken as soon as they could obtain loan money for the purpose.' Although the ,outlay was great in the firet instance, he .was assured that the interest and'sinking fund would not .be so great as the upkeep of, the present macadamised roads. The By-laws and Lighting Committees deserved creditfor the manner in which they lave attended'to the lighting of the city.. It had been their aim to took to the safety and convenience of the citizens, by visits from time to time to all porta of the city during dark evenings, and now they had the, reputation.of having the best-lighted city in Australasia. Another function of this committee was to' 'see that no congested areas were allowed to be formed in rogard to building permits, and he could assure them that no permits had been recommended where there was not sufficient air space around, the buildings. This is the part of town-planning the council could do in ft practical manner. In' a nutshell his policy was progress with economy, the extension of wood-blocking, prevention of congested areas, improvement,, of Oriental Bay as proposed by Engineer, tepid salt-water baths, shortening route to Northland and Karori, public utilities, extending and improving our tramservices, planting Town Belt, extension and beautifying our reserves, minimising the dust nuisance, and furthering the scheme for pure milk' supply. LABOUR CANDIDATES. At the meeting of the Labour candidates for municipal honours at Wades-, town last evening, some 30 .voters were present, Mr. Goyder presiding. Mr. : C. H. Chapman, candidate for Mayor, referring, to tho plea that "business" men should be returned to office, stated that men under this category had in the past borrowed money for city purposes to the extent of £230,000 at 6 per cent. The speaker pointed out the fact that before the loan matured over £700,000 would be paid on that snm as ■interest. Mr. Murdoch, candidate for the council, strongly criticised the apathy of the late council, especially those who had been members for a number of years. Ho claimed that the milk reform and town planning were planks taken from the Labour platform, but the new-born zeal of tho old councillors in favour of these reforms was amazing. They had awakened, and their denunciation of water in milk almost amounted to a development of hydrophobia. Ho claimed for tho Labour members that there was not 'a breath of suspicion against their integrity,' and they .had no axe to grind, but were out for the bonefit of the masses. The Labour Party would givo a fail- deal to all. Mossrs. Bruco and Holland also spoke. A vote of thanks and confidence in the Labour candidates was carried unanimously. ONSLOW CONTEST. KIJAND ALLAH MEETING. ' Messrs. E. C. Alderson and H. E. Anderson, candidates for the Onslow Borough Council, hold a meeting at tho Public Hall, Khandallali, last night. Mr. Alderson gave a resume of his past council work. Both candidates answered a number of debatable questions put forward by opposing candidates, 1 and definitely - stated that they would not support any water schema that Hud Hot beau, ropoxted on bs a competent on<,

gineer is satisfactory.; A motion of thanks and confidence in the candidates was proposed by Mr. 6. H. Bourke aiid seconded by Mr. E. Cowles and earned unanimously. Mr. J. G. Harkness acted as chairman,.and expressed regret at the absence of Mr. J. G. Smith owing to illness, but stated that he would address the electors on Tuesday evening next.

Mr. W- Appleton, a candidate for a seat on the Onslow Borough Council, addressed a meeting at Ngaio on Thursday. While ha did not believe in the proposed water scheme, he was not against an adequate water and drainage scliome combined, but he did not consider this practicable for the next two years. In criticising the finances of the borough, ho drew attention to the enormous cost of administration, and quoted figures from last year's balancesheet. Hff favoured a more systematic method of street improvement.

In another column, Mr. A. R. Hornblow, a candidate at the forthcoming City Council elections, sets forth at some length his platform, which covers matters of considerable moment to all, electors. Mr. Hornblow is a well-known resident of Wellington South, having engaged for many years in the printing trade in Newtown, and is a well-known resident of that portion of. the city.

Mr. W. J. Thompson, who has attended ninety-two committee meetings, in addition to 33 ordinary meetings of the council during the past year, is once more a candidate for the C% Council and Hospital Board. His policy appears elsewhere in this issue.

Mr. John S. Swan announces himself for the City Council. 'He is advocating a very strong policy, which is advertised in this issue.

At the request of a number of friends, Mr. }V. Jas. Gaudin offers himself as a candidate for the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board.