CITIZENS' TICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 98, 27 April 1935, Page 11

CITIZENS' TICKET

IN THE OPEN AIR

It is just a question whether openair campaigning does not reach as many electors as the more staid method of attracting as many as possible to a hall and there talking to them at great length. Labour candidates have used the streets for their campaigning quite as. much as halls, and have admitted readily enough that they do so because funds are not too plentiful and hall rents are high enough to be a hurdle. Last evening two of the Citizens' candidates, Mr. R. A. Wright (for the City Council) and Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell (Hospital Board), took a turn at openair speaking at the corner of Vivian and Cuba Streets, and though the shopping crowd was not interested for" the first few minutes, the gathering thereafter grew tremendously. The hecklers made an evening of it and got quite as good as they gave. The two candidates spoke for about an hour and a half, which was considerably better than they could possibly have done at a hall meeting, with a chairman and a watch and thirteen or fourteen others determined to have their say before the audience yawned its way home to bed. It is understood that some of the candidates propose to visit city factories and workshops next week. 'There is a record number of possible votes in Wellington this year—6B,ooß on the main and supplementary rolls—and the determination of candidates to secure those votes is more than usually marked. WOMEN WORKERS' AID. "It was myself who started the organisation of the women," said Mrs. E. M. Leniston at Garrett Street last night, referring to the inception of the Unemployed Women Workers' Association. Mrs. Leniston denied that the Mayoress (Mrs. T. C. A. Hislop) had originated it. Mrs. Leniston said that owing to no organisation existing among women who were out of work, their position Was becoming deplorable, and in co-operation with a number of others who were unemployed, she had taken steps .to approach ■ the Trades Council executive committee, which had made available for the purpose of a common room one of the rooms in the Trades Hall. Subsequently she led a deputation to the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, who was then Minister of Employment, and he had said that the un-; employed women must have a better organisation. • The Wakefield Street bureau was opened later, this being mainly due to the pressure brought to bear by the Unemployed Women's Association. Therefore to suggest that the Mayoress originated the scheme was incorrect. She had come into it as a result of her position as Mayoress. "If you vote- for Labour," said Mrs. Leniston, "provision will be made for the employment of men and women who desire decent' wages and the disbandment of all charitable institutions." PATIENTS' LONG WAITS. ; The long wait's, sometimes from four to five hours, which outdoor patients had to put up with to secure medical attention at the hospital, said Mrs. M. Oatham, Labour candidate for the Hospital Board, at Garrett Street last night, were a disgrace to the hospital authorities. Many of the men who went on sustenance gradually. fell off in health until they became outdoor patients. Doctors, should be allowed to issue ration tickets to people who ■were insufficiently fed^ Medical attention should rbe given where it was necessary, . and the ; means test abolished. : ■' ' : ■ ■• ELECTRICAL TOPICS. Several points, in relation to the Labour Party's policy regarding electricity in ihe city were touched upon by Councillor R. McKeen, M.P., a candidate for the Harbour Board and City Council, last evening. Speaking at Garrett Street, he said that as a member of the electricity committee of the council, he had advocated for some years the establishment of an up-to-date showroom where the council could supply electrical appliances to the citizens at the least possible cost in order that the consumption of electricity might be increased to the greatest possible extent, ■. He had at last succeeded in persuading the council to obtain; an up-to-date showroom which would be .situated in the building recently purchased by them from Macky Ldgans in Lower Cuba Street. Speaking at Green Street, Newtown; Mr. McKeen said that electricity charges could be still further reduced. A slight reduction in the-electricity tariff to consumers of electricity in the city would mean more than the general rates reduction advocated by Labour opponents. Mr. McKeen stressed the point that in past years Labour opponents on the council had represented more in the way of private interests than the welfare of the city, as a whole, as witness the policy enunciated by the organisation which was responsible for their selection—the Wellington Ratepayers' Associationno w called the Citizens' Committee. HOSPITAL CONTROL. Mrs. L. Gibson, Labour candidate for the Hospital Board, speaking at the Post Office Square yesterday, criticised the board and the social welfare department. The board's reduction of wages, the closing of ; three' wards though there was a long waiting list, staff reductions, and.failure to carry out repairs were matters traversed by the speaker, who'spoke of the delays in attending to those who sought assistance, and described the choice offered in rations as an outrage.