Evening Post. MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1923. "ENTICING & ALLURING"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 90, 16 April 1923, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, APRIL 16, 1923. "ENTICING & ALLURING"

Labour is making a bold bid for municipal power; in faot, is bidding the limit. No doubt some electors are muoh impressed. The programme is indeed attractive — too attractive ; and it is supported by smooth and appealing speeches. It is all the more necessary, then, to examine closely the bid that is made and the party that makes it. "Those who are not of the working classes are not qualified to understand the needs of the general mass of the people," says Mr. P. Fraser. This may at first glance appear a^ reasonable statement, though o^en to argument even when accepted in a broad sense. But the Labour Party does not give it a wide interpretation. Labour would exclude from the working class/some of the greatest reformers in English history—and New Zealand history for that matter —and would deny that they understood the needs of the general mass of the people, though their works remain as proof of their understanding. Labour's attempt to obtain a monopoly of city representation, introducing party politics for the purpose, is in itself a proof of the narrowness of the party's outlook. It is not those who work for wages who are qualified (according to the Labour practice) to understand the needs of the mass of the people, or those who work with their hands ; but those who are willing to accept the Labour Party and its.leaders and its platform. We admit and we have never denied that civic affairs are safest in the hands of the real workers; but we do not admit that acceptance of a par by platform is the test of a worker, or that the labourer who works with his hands is better qualified to ' administer the city than the bank director who works with his brain.

The civic work is wide, and it calls for wide and varied knowledge. It is unlikely that one man will possess all the requisite knowledge. So we elect a Council or a Board, comprising a number of men, hoping thus to obtain variety of knowledge and experience. In such a Council or Board there is room for the banker and the labourer, the commercial man and the artisan. With reason they should work well together, but if reason is displaced by party politics the prospect of co-operation is considerably diminished. Our civic bodies are too small to be divided on party lines. There is grave danger of the' city, which should be the first consideration, being pushed into second place by the party. Because we hold this view strongly we regret that Labour has issued a party challenge. There, are certainly men in the Labour Party whose knowledge and experience would be valuable to the city, but they cannot carry the Labour Party on their backs, and since they have surrendered to the party spirit their own possibilities of usefulness are diminished. They cannot be judged on their personal merits, but must stand or fall with the party.

It is not only the exclusiveness of the Labour Party—its "class consciousness"—that makes its bid for power regrettable. The extravagance of the bid is to be deplored. Consider the facts : the Mayor, City Council, Harbour Board,' and Hospital Board are elected to hold office for two years. Labour makes its bid for power with promises which could not possibly be fulfilled in several such terms—even if it were desirable that they should be. This lavish promising alone is sufficient to condemn the platform and the party which puts it forward. Mr. Fraser says:—

The Labour Party are not fools. . . We are not prepared to embark on any scheme, no matter how enticing and alluring it may be, unless we are first satisfied that it can be made a «ucce«s. ... \

This is Mr. Eraser's statement, but" the Labour Party's practice is tb promise everything enticing and alluring without a word as to how it is to be made a success. The proposals in the platform could not be put into operation without vast expenditure. Some of the outstanding items are: Municipalbakery, municipal farms, municipal markets, municipal fish supply, city i coal supply (including purchase of steam colliers), rest rooms, conveniences, baths, housing, municipal concerts and picture shown, j For the Hospital Board there is a similar ambitious programme, and the Harbour Board programme is not a whit less imposing. Labour promises to provide all these things. But how 1 Municipal enterprises cannot be established without money. Who is to supply the money? The clue is given in one clause of the Hospital Board programme promising free hospital treatment: "The finance from rates to bear an increased subsidy from the Government." There is little prospect of obtaining such an increased subsidy, especially if the Hospital Board refuses to collect fees from patients. Rates would therefore have to provide the money for this and all the other lavish spending which the Labour Party has in mind. Possibly Labour will say that the rates will be paid by tha big buainesa men. Agortion el the rates matf be* ia. the

first instance, but they are charged upon the goods which the business supplies. In the end the small man must pay his share. Labour does not go to him and tell him this. It believes him simple enough to accept promises of good things without. inquiring who is to pay. Of course ,as "the Labour Party are not fools" there may be no intention of attempting this pretentious programme; it may be merely ornamental. Whatever the intention is, the electors, we believe, will show that they "are not prepared to embark on any scheme" or accept ajjy party, "no matter how enticing or alluring it may be," unless they are first satisfied it can be made a success.