NO PARTY POLITICS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 116, 19 May 1941, Page 9

NO PARTY POLITICS

PUBLIC'S DISAPPROVAL

COMMENT OF CITIZENS' COMMITTEE

"We feel that the citizens of Wellington went out to vote on Saturday with a strong determination to register thendisapproval of dictatorial methods being used in any form of government in this strongly democratic country," said Mr. H. H. Miller, chairman of the Citizens' Election Committee, today.

"While there may be room for differences of opinion as to the value of and necessity for party politics functioning in national government," he said "'there is no room for doubt when considering the danger to citizens of 'party politics' impinging on local body administration. It has been the long considered opinion of the Wellington Ratepayers' Association that party politic? should not be tolerated in local body affairs, where, it will be readily conceded, the principal activity of members is to frame an administrative policy which will spend wisely the rates collected from citizens by the levy the law allows. Members of local bodies are, more than anything else, trustees, not law makers, and there is no necessity even to consider party issues in the deliberations of such bodies. "As chairman of the Greater Wellington Ratepayers' and Citizens' Election Committee," said Mr. Miller, "I should like to join with the president, Mr. Stan ton Harcourt, in conveying the thanks of the committee to those citizens who have shown such confidence in the personnel of the Citizens' Ticket. "We consider the splendid results obtained at this election to be no personal triumph for the committee or those elected, but a clear direction from electors to those elected that the trusteeship placed in their hands must be taken seriously, and that their administration must always face up to the truest democratic principles. "The election committee, which is entirely non-political, feels confident that the successful candidates may be relied upon, specially in these difficult times, to study the interests not only of ratepayers, but also of all sections in the community." THE NEW HOSPITAL BOARD. "The position as it relates to the Hospital Board election results is no less definite," stated Mr. Miller. "The voter has in effect said that the muddlement of the past few years—caused, we maintain, by party politics deflecting the judgment of members —must cease. The demand by the citizens made to new members is, to commence de' novo and review the whole situation. "Some three or four years ago the Wellington Ratepayers' Association called together a public meeting to consider hospital matters. The hall was crowded and certain resolutions were passed which had for their objective the support of a proposition for some form of decentralisation. Since the main hospital in Wellington South had been enlarged by the two large wings abutting Riddiford Street, the spreading of population in a northerly direction and in the Hutt Valley has necessitated a. change of viewpoint upon any building scheme, and this is. a factor which electors require to be seriously considered. The building of the Lower Hutt Hospital is a step in the right direction and when completed will greatly relieve pressure on the main hospital in Wellington. "Another question which must be considered by the new board is whether the Hutt Valley and adjacent districts should be declared a separate hospital district. It is a well-known fact in medical circles that large hospitals do not best meet the needs of the people, the optimum size being 500 beds and certainly not more than 1000. "With the advent of social security our hospitals are being filled with what might be termed non-serious cases: many of these do not require surgical treatment and could be cared for in less expensively-equipped secondary institutions. These are some of the matters the new board members will have to consider and the Wellington Ratepayers' Association feels confident in asserting that the personnel of ihe new board will not shrink from the responsibility attaching to the office they have been elected to fill."