COMING ELECTIONS CANDIDATES' ADDRESSES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 8

COMING ELECTIONS

CANDIDATES' ADDRESSES

FOR THE CITY COUNCIL

. Six of the candidates selected by the Citizens' Selection Committee to contest seats on the City Council at the forthcoming election addressed a meeting of electors at the Melrose Hall last night. Mr. Munro, president of- the Melrose Ratepayers' Association, occupied the chair. Councillor W. J. Gaudin referred to the running of municipal enterprises on a business footing, and said that while the council had aimed at making the tramways pay it had endeavoured to encourage 'settlement in the outlying districts. He thought the.policy that was being followed a sound and commendable one. Councillor J. Burns impressed upon the audience the necessity of electing candidates who had had experience of business and organisation. He said there was room for' improvement in the basis of charges for electric lighting. He considered the big consumer should pay a little more and the household a little less. He prescribed as the remedy for neglect of the outlying districts the formation of live associations, to see that the right, men were returned to the council. The success of the management of the city depended upon the right choice of the electors between the "blue ticket," on which his name appeared, and the "other ticket." Mr. J. Aston also spoke of the need for business brains in the guidance of civic affairs. If returned, he hoped to specialise in transport matters and in the beautification of the city. He advocated the use of the trackless tram as a means of access to the outlying districts; the residents might wait all their lives before they secured an ordinary tramway. Mr. H. A. Huggins said he did not wish to be regarded as an opponent of Labour; it was his aim to be elected as a representative of all the people. He thought a marked distinction should be • made between capital expenditure and maintenance cost. Permanent works that would benefit the citizens of the future should be paid for out of loan, and should not be placed as a burden upon' the present ratepayers. It would be unfair for the present generation to meet the whole cost of permanent works. He spoke, in conclusion, of the future development of the city, and the need for a systematic extension policy. Councillor A. W. Parton referred to transport facilities to Melrose; he did not think the argument against having a "dead end" on a tramway route should outweigh the rights of the district. The Labour Party's proposal that the workers in the City Council's employ should be represented on the management committees of their particular services amounted to a demand for double representation. The tramwaymen, for instance, would have the right to vote for members of the council in' the ordinary way. Were they entitled, in addition 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. Councillor T. Forsyth condemned party politics in municipal affairs as a cause of waste and obstruction. Referring to finance, he said that money had been spent freely in the past, and benefits commensurate with the' expenditure had not always been obtained. There was no chance of decreases in the city rates, and if the city was managed properly there should be no necessity for increases. He expressed the opinion that the Corporation should bear the cost of re-wiring the city when the electrical change-over was effected. The work could be financed out of the large reserves of the lighting department, and there should be no need for higher lighting charges.