FOXTON CONDITIONS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 63, 8 December 1930, Page 10

FOXTON CONDITIONS

Mr. Bromley’s Statement MAYOR’S REJOINDER By Telegraph.—Preas Association. Foxton, December 6. Resentment and indignation are expressed locally at the statement made by Mr. W. Bromley at Dunedin, as published in the Press, to the effect that conditions are so bad in Foxton that nobody pays rates or storekeepers. The Mayor, Mr. Pcrreau, in a statement to the Press says that the statement constitutes a gross slander on citizens, who are quite as honourable in this respect as those of any other town in the world. Considerable hardship was suffered by a portion of the community through unemployment, which Mr. Bromley had it in his power to remedy materially. The unqualified denunciation of the whole community by Mr. Bromley was entirely unwarranted. MR. BROMLEY EXPLAINS Speaking last evening to a representative of “The Dominion” Mr. Bromley confessed that he was unable to see how his remarks came to be misinterpreted "Wrong deductions seem to have been made,” he said, “in connection with a reference to the position at Foxton I made recently at Dunedin. "Unemployment has affected every part of the Dominion, and each town and city considers its own position the worst,” he continued. "At the commencement of the meeting in Dunedin it was stated by the chairman that the City Council had reached its lin/t financially and could do no more. I pointed out that Dunedin was not by any means the most badly affected place in New Zealand and said that in my opinion the place worst off was Foxtoil, where they depended almost entirely on the flax industry, which had been idle for some time owing to the sharp fall in the price of hemp. I further stated that it was unlikely that they would get any advantage from the Unemployment Board’s offer of a subsidy, which was then under consideration. According to my advice, the reason for this was that no rates had been paid, nor had they even the means to pay storekeepers. "Things. I said, were in a deplorable state and it would be the board’s duty to see how far it could help. My statement was not intended to refleet in any way on the people at Foxton. On the contrary, it was an admission of the need for sympathetic consideration and the fullest measures of assistance being given.

“I cannot understand how it was possible for my remarks to have been given such an interpretation,” said Mr. Bromley in conclusion.