LABOUR AT MELROSE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 90, 16 April 1923, Page 8

LABOUR AT MELROSE

Mr. P. Fraser, M.P., Labour candidate for the Mayoralty, and Messrs. T. Brindle, A. L. Monteith, M.P., and A. W. Croskery, candidates' for the City Council, addressed a meeting in the hall, Melrose, on Saturday night. Mr. Munna presided. Mr. Fraaer, aftef quoting figures to show thafc Labour's proposal to levy rates on the unimproved value would not • mean increases, except on vacant land, dealt with the Labour plank that employees of the City Council should* be given representation on the variouß committees. He read extracts from the, Sankey Commission's report to justify Labour's statements that it simply proposed to put into force certain recommendations embodied in that report. The Whitley Commission had made similar proposals, and in certain Admiralty yards, and in many of the Government departments in Great Britain, representatives of the departments, and the workers employed therein, had representation on committees. •

Dealing with the question of-electricity supply, Mr. Fraser stated, that neither he nor any member of. the -Tramways Committee of the City Council could say that the introduction, of current from Mangahao would mean a .reduction in the price of electric lighting"' or electric power. The Tramways Committee was to confer with Mr. Evan Parry, who was visiting New Zealand, and with Mr. M. Cable, Chief Electrical Engineer, on the subject. Mr. Cable was returning with a vast amount of information on electrical matters in other countries. Mr. Fraser considered that the cost pf alterations in electric irons and switches should be boine by the municipality, and that the old installations should be assessed at a value fair to the consumer as well as to the council.

In the course of his remarks, Mr. Monteith stated that at one time members of the Tramways Committoe had obtained material for constructing tram trailer* in .Wellington. After spending

a considerable amount of money it was found that the whole thing was impracticable. If there were practical tramwaymen on the Tramways Committee, such a tiling would be obviated. He cast no reflections on the management, because the management was often overridden by the committee.

The other speakers having dealt with various aspects of civic administration, the Labour candidates were accorded votes of thanks.