THE CITY ELECTIONS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1911, Page 4

THE CITY ELECTIONS.

CANDIDATES CN THE HUSTINGS MR. LEN. M'KENZIE'S ADDEESS. Mr. Leonard M'Kenzie, a candidate for a seat on th"! City Council, addressed a meeting of electors' in O'Donnell's Hall, Kilbirnie, last evening. About forty people were present. Mr. Park presided. Sir. M'Kenzie said this was liis first appearance on a public platform, but his second attempt to gain a seat on the council. Touching on the fire brigade, he said it had been proposed that the brigade should be placed in the control of a board under the Fire Brigades Act. He was opposed to any change in regard to fire brigade control. Speaking of the tramways, he said the system was a very hard one to manage, bui the manner in which it was controlled at present by a tramways committee was not a good one. Personally, he thought better results would be achieved if the system was controlled by a board. An enquiry by experts should be set up to go into the whole question. Some of 'the suburbs at present were not well served in the matter of traffic. The enquiry he Ixad suggested should go carefully into "dead" running. If ne was returned, another subject he wouldhave discussed in the council was proper attention for roads in the outlying districts. In connection with the streetwidening operations, the City Council had acquired a good deal of property, but a great portion of it was lying idle." This was not businesslike— the land should either be Ist on Jong leases or sold. A good deal had been heard during the campaign about city markets. Personally, he "believed that before the city established markets it should have the advice of experts on tho probable financial results. He had no objection to a^ market if it could be 'shown that it could be made a profitable proposition to the city, and' not a burden. , „ fe_a, few^years a > lar.ge_numher,oj; .valuable city leases would be falling in. Rents would increase at the time of renewal, and he' suggested that the money. . i might- 'be used 'for city improvements. Part' of it, for instance, might be used for reclaiming Kilbirnie Bay. He complained,of the non-expenditure of -money , on." theiXilhirnie recreation ground after the expenditure had been sanctioned by,. -the ratepayers. More conveniences were- ( required in the city, especially for women." If he were returned he would cn T deavour tb> do-'his very best in the interests of, lie "city as a whole. He complimented the last council on the care if had' shown in the administration of -th'a-^city's affairs. At the same time tb.e* cpuneit required "an infusion of new blopd: • (Applause). In reply to "a question Mr. M'Kenzie. said he would be pleased to see workmen's homes erected on the vacant land hs had referred to in his address, so' 'lohg~as the" feturn" was a sufficiently good one/ and~ the result was not to further burden the latepayers. The candidate was not opposed to> Sunday concerts so long as they were •conducted properly. (Applause). -A skirt dance or anything in the nature of vaudeville would be improper. ; - Town-planning, he told- another enquirer, commended itself to his support. He was in favour of beautifying the city. He would not commit himself on the question : "Are you in favour of a second tunnel through Mount Victoria." It -would not be fair to answer "Yes" or "No," without having adequate data. He understood a new proposal had been evolved, but had not yet been made public. On the motion of Mr- George, seconded by Mr. Heginbotham, the candidate was accorded a vote of thanks and confidence^ MR. S. J. MQRRAN AT NEWTOWN. In 'outlining bis platform at the Newtown Library last evening, Mr. S., J. Moran, a- candidate for the City Council, reminded his auditors that wfcen ho stood before he had instituted this system of municipal candidates addressing the electors. • He wished it to be clearly iindenstood that he was not. . in favour of elas9 distinction, and in this respect' reference was nlade to the Labour party and its attempt to secure majority representation on- the council. He considered that/ there was no necessity in ,this country for a majority representation—at any rat© in municipal matters. With regard to ' labour generally the candidate said his attitude was one which a majority of fair-minded men must commend. He was not en© of ' those who believed that 8s per day was a full and sufficient wage for all labourers. Again, he' had no intention of setting out to make promises concerning, local requirements in any district in which hs might be speaking, but he was of the opinion that the outlying districts ! required more attention, that they re- .. eeived at present from -the council. Mr. Moran then proceeded to outline his platform. It was as follows :—: — 1. The adoption of 'a moTe efficient and less expensive system of traffic management of the tramways. 2. Making provision for the paying off of loans, that had no sinking fund3. Execution by the council of its present trusts and obligations before others were incurred. 4. The final settlement of the* Fire Brigade question by referring the* matter to a ballot of the people. • 5. The better cleaning of Wellington's streets, and, 6. Making provision for a, pure ,milk | supply, milk to be supplied to the purveyors through a central municipal depot. In dealing'iwith the question of' a- pure milk suppiy, Mr. Moran explained that foe did not' suggest that the council should enter upon the principle of municipal trading. If it did this, he believed it -would be usurping the rights of individuals. Ho did not (he added) suggest '-that the corporation should be the purveyors of milk, but he did suggest that< there might be. some arrangement made by which the purveyors of milk might obtain their supplies through the agency of a municipal depot. Mr. Moran was given a very attentive hearing, and at the close of his address was accorded a strong vote of confidence. 1 . MR. JENSEN'S VIEWS. "i | At the Druids' Hall last night Mr. V. i Jensen addressed * n . meeting at the Druids' Hall in; support of his candidature for a seat on the City Council. Mr. V. Braund was voted to the chair. I and there were about thirty persons i present.' ! The candidate, in the course of his j address, said he had_j»lready contested r council elections so far without success. j One reason -of his non-success was that he had not been known, and another reason was that his name was "Jensen. ' J He thought, however, that h& was a j very fair -specimen of n. colonial. "lio | had been thirty -eight years in "New Zealand, though born in Denmark, and he did not think he should be condemned because he was not born in England or * Ireland or Scotland. (Applause.) Tins was his third attempt to get a se-at on ?_ the council. He 'thought most of them j g' would "admit that-he" would make a-very < t> good member of that body.... He chal- [ lengsd any of the candidates to test his c strength of character or mind to the , extent of £50, to be given by the loser

to the Children's Hospital. As to council affairs, he contended that they had been very much muddled, particularly in regard to the widening of Willisstreet. The owners of property in that street should havo been given notice that they would have to move back their premises by a certain date. He also objected to such large sums being paid for widening street corners as had been paid in certain instances, and urged that it was necessary to have people on the council who would act as a brake when such proposals wore put forward. He contended that steps should* be taken to lease the council's property in Ade-laide-road, and that, some of the existing "slums" should be cleared out and made fit, for habitation. He did not think public markets would be a great, benefit, as people had got so used to having everything brought (to their backdoors. As to the tramways, he thought there would not be much difficulty in finding one why the trams did not pay. They required more trams at busy times and less at times when only very few were travelling. Further, the Post Office Square should be made the terminus for all the trams. (Hea-r, hear.) He was in favour of linking up the Wallacestreet and Constable-street lines, and there was no doubt that sooner or later the cars would have to run through the Basin Reserve. Further, he wanted to know how it came about that the Electric Lighting Department could supply light to ihe hospital at 3d per unifc, while private consumers had to pay 6d. If it was found necessary to increase the wages of corporation labourers he would cheerfully pay extra rates. (Hear, hear.) Tho men should receive sufficient to enable them to live comfortably. As to, towr beautifying, he thought ttat if any money was available it should be spent in planting the Town Belt with valuable timber trees. In answer to a question, he said h& would not interfere with Sunday concerts. (Hear, hear.) , A motion was passed that the candidate is a fit and proper person to represent the city on the council.