CIVIC ELECTIONS

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 177, 14 April 1923, Page 3

CIVIC ELECTIONS

CITIZENS’ TICKET CANDIDATES AT MELROSE Six City Council candidates, Messrs. J. Aston, J. Burns, H. A. Huggins, W. J. Gaudin, A. W. Parton, and T. Fonsyth, addressed a meeting of electors in the Melrose Hall last night. Mr. Munns, president of the Melrose Ratepayers’ Association, occupied the chair.

Mr. Gaudin defended the City Council’s tramway policy. It was necessary, lie said, that municipal enterprises should be on a business footing. The council, while it had aimed at making the tramways pay, had tried to encourage settlement in the outlying districts. That policy, he thought; should bo confirmed. Hs urged the electors to exercise their right to vote. It was only if they voted that they could hope to see in office a council that was representative of the citizens. He felt' that an official Labour council would not be fully representative.

Mr. Burns described how he had used his business experience to assist in bringing about a saving in the cost of the council’s printing contracts. He wished to impress upon his audience the importance of returning candidates who had experience of business and organisation. There was room for improvement in the basis of charges for elgctric lighting. The big consumer should pay a little more and holder a little' less. He felt that the outlying districts had teen, somewhat neglected in the past.. The rgmedy was to have a live association, such as Melrose had, and to soe that the right men to look after suburban interests were returned to the council. He appealed for support for the whole of the ticket on which his name appeared. If the city was to be successful!} - managed, he said, the citizens must make the right choice between the blue ticket and “the other.” Mr. Aston believed that there would bp an advantage to the city in returning some of the new candidates, who were men with business experience and business ideas. He hoped, if returned to the council, to sppcialisa in transport matters, and in the work of beautifying the city. . For an outlying district he was inclined to thins: the “trackless tram” might be worth employing. If the residents were content to wait till a. tramway of the regular typo was constructed, they might have to wait all their Jives. He hoped something might be done by the next council to improve the appearance of Wellington by beautifying some of the bleak and barren spots, that so many visitors counted a blemish on the city to-day. ... , Mr. Huggins declared that a rew weeks ago he had had no thought of standing for the City Council, but that he had yielded to the requests of others that ho should become a candidate. Ho did not wish to be regarded an an opponent of Labour; his aim was to bo elected to the council to represent all the people. A marked distinction should be made, he thought, between capital expenditure and cost of upkeep. So tnat the ratepaj'irs should, not be unduly burdened, works that were permanent and would benefit the citizens of the future should bo paid for out of loan money. It would not be right that the present generation should meet the whole cost of permanent works. 'Hie time had arrived when a plan of extension should be drawn up, so that there should be nothing haphazard about the future growth of the city. Mr. Parton strongly favoured the claims of Melrose to a convenient public means of transport. He did not think that the argument against having a “dead end’.’_to a- route should bo allowed to outweigh th-- rights of tho district. The Labour Party’s proposal that the workers in the City Council’s employ should be represented on the management committees of the’-r particular services amounted to a demand for double representation. The tramwaymen, for instance, would havo the right to vote for members of the council in the ordinary way. Mere they entitled, inaddition to that, to have special representation on a committee? The suggestion that they were was a. most serious blot on the Labour Party’s platform. Mr. Forsyth, believed, that party politics in municipal affairs meant obstruction and waste. Discussing finance, he said that money had been spent freely in. the past, and commensurate with the expenditure had not always been obtained. The burden of interest and annual charges was heavy, and the important thing now war to spend money with care, and with the certainty of receiving its full value in use to the city. The question was whether rates would go up—there was no chance of their coming down —or the affairs of the city would be so managed that no increase wouM be necessary. When the time for the electrical change-over came, the corporation he thought, should shoulder 'the cost’ of re-wiring. The lighting department had built up considerable reserves, which could be used to finance the work, while the charges for lighting could be kept at or about the present figures.

FURTHER NOMINATIONS Following are additional nominations of candidates for the local bodies’ elections to be held on Thursday. Anril 26 —■ CITY COUNCIL. Colin Campbell Crump, nominated by Charles M. Luke, C. B. Norwood, Birger Lynneberg, and John Napier Wallace. Benjamin George Henry Burn, nominated by J. C. Tonks and C. I- Dasent. F. Meadowcroft, nominated by John T. Martin and William Watson. George Henry Baylis, nominated by N. I. Gooder, F. W. Rowe, and C. C. Aitken. . William John Thompson, nominated by T. Shailer "Weston, Jacobina Luke, and W- Hopkirk. John Burns, nominated by W. If. Richards and R. Randell. John Aston, nominated by O. J. B. Norwood and J. M. Dale. HOSPITAL BOARD. Edward Vine, nominated by A. A. George and H. W> Preston. Frederick Castle, nominated by E. W. Burd, and L. J. Taylor. Nominations for the City Council (15), Harbour Board (4), and Hospital Board (14) close at noon on Monday. Each candidate has to deposit £3 with his (or her) nomination paper, same to be forfeited if they do not poll oneeighth of the votes recorded in favour of the lowest elected candidate. The Citizens’ Election Committee advertise a series of meetings to bo held next week; on Monday at Hataitai Churchroom, and on Tuesday at St. Hilda’s, Island Bay, Training College, Kelburn, and Oriental Bay Kiosk.