PETONE AND HUTT. HUTT MAYORALTY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 51, 2 March 1909, Page 2

PETONE AND HUTT. HUTT MAYORALTY.

I MR. HAWTHORN'S CANDIDATURE. REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. In the Hutt Town Hall buildings last evening, the first shot was fired in what promises to prove an interesting mayoral i campaign, when one of the candidates, Mr. J. T. Hawthorn addressed a meet- [ ing of residents. In his opening remarks Mr. Hawthorn declared that the borough was one of the finest suburbs of Wellington, so that l . naturaliy the residents wanted to see it !• go ahead, but at the same time great 1 caution should be exercised. "We must ' watch closely," he said, "for the simple reason that if our rates were higher than at the present time, we would keep away those people who would otherwise come here." In order to keep the rates down, men with business and financial , experience were required to fill the May1 oral chair and the councillors' seats. As for himself, he thought he had a fair amount- of commonsense besides possessing very great interests in the valley. ( In answer to a question as to whether it was possible to have an electric tramway service in the valley that would be likely to pay within the next ten years, the candidate replied in the affirmative. He would, however, leave the discussion on tramways over until some . future meeting. , Questioned on the subject of contract j versus day-labour, the candidate express- . Ed himself a firm believer in the latter for the simple reason that under such conditions the best work was obtainable. Although in some cases it might cost a little more, in many instances day labour was cheaper than the contract work. After sixteen years personal experience he was satisfied that day labour was cheaper and better. "I have no intention in contesting this seat to criticise, unless I am forced to," ' remarked the speaker when asked by a member of the audience if he was of \ the opinion that the affairs of the borough council could be more economically conducted than they were under the present council. He was quite satisfied that those who had come forward as 1 councillors worked to the best of their ability for all of the people, residents as well as ratepayers. | "Do you think it is conducive to good municipal government to have in the council men who have large landed interests in the borough?" queried another questioner who added that he thought that the interests of large ratepayers would be likely to clash with the coun- '. cil. Mr. Hawthorn did not think so, es i pecially as such persons — himself, for instance — had to help to pay the rates, , so that it was in their interests to keep j the rates down. "Besides," he con1 eluded, "why should we have men in the council who have no interests in the borough?" Upon being questioned as to whether or : not, in the event of his return to the I Mayoralty, he would favour granting continued increases of salaries to the borough officers, Mr. Hawthorn said : — "I won't give you promises. I mean to go in there as an independent man, or else I will stay out. If I go. in there, I I am going to do the best I can with the . aid of a good, sensible council." To another querist he replied that in [ the event of a tramway service being in- • stalled, he would certainly favour the 1 inclusion of electric lighting. 1 A ratepayer : "Are you in favour of amalgamation with Petone?" Mr. Hawthorn : "Certainly. We are not quite ready for that yet, but we will be when it is time. It might be five years hence, bui still I am in favour of it. We must, however, get a bigger population in the Hutt before we can go to Petone. You want population to solve the question," he said, emphatically. 1 Finally, the speaker explained that the gathering was merely a preliminary one, it being his intention to place, his ; views on the important questions of the borough before the public at a later i date, when he proposed to deal tho- - roughly with one subject only each s evoning.