MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN

Evening Star, Issue 18254, 19 April 1923, Page 1

MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN

ADDRESSES AT MORNING-TON. Crs Shaddock and Wilson addressed the electors of Momington in the, Presbyterian Church Hall last night. There wore a dozen people present, excluding the chairman (Mr Alex. Bathgate) and Crs Sincock and Hancock. Cr Shaddock spoke first. He said he had been an active member of the Ciry Council for quite a number of years, and prior to that of the South Dunedin Council. He had been the last .Mayor of South Dunedin. He claimed that die City 'Council had done real good work, noiwithstanding the. criticism that had been offered by a section of the Press in Dunedin. The corporation way in a sound financial position, and, moreover, the council was progressive. The success of their trading departments was_. in fact, the envy of the whole of die other municipal coir corns in New Zealand. That being so. he thought it was a pity that so many of- their people should, in common parlamo, call "slinking fish.” He personally was not greatly in favor of the ‘‘ticket'’ yysirm ; lie regretted that it was necessary to have one, but if one party insisted on pushing it on they must meet it by having a ticket, too. As regards the fish municipal, market, when they found that other cities had failed to make a success of it, then perhaps it was the lies! tiling for Dunedin to leave it alone, in the case of Dunedin also 1 heir producers were so far away from the city that it was practically impossible for them to come to Dunedin to supply (he consumers direct. He thought that the fruit-growing industry on the Goidlichl.had got as near a.s possible, to the consumer. The growers had their own agents in Dunedin, and sent (heir fruit to them. Then, again, he did not know that the shopkeepers in Dunedin wore making extortionate profits, and if Dunedin went in for supplying foodstuffs it could easily lose a lot of money without benefiting the people in any way. The council had also been criticised in regard to the conduct of the trams. It was no use laying the trams to all sorts of places if the expenditure was to be so heavy lint the cost of travelling would bo excessive. Cr Scott bad given him figures showing that in Christchurch they had one mile of tramway to every 1.429 people ; Dunedin, one mile to evoiy 1,750; Wellington, one mile to every 2,000; and in Auckland, one mile to every 2,500. There was therefore only one place that heat Dunedin. They often hoard that if the -trams were ext ended- the people would follow, but ho could not see the force of that argument-. To bring more people to Dunedin they had to show that people could live, more cheaply here, or could make more money or have some advantage. such as steady employment. They would have to look to Central Otago, which only required’ water In make it productive. Cr tthncklock gave figures regarding the financial position of the trams, showing that the electric trams had an increase of 4 par cent, in receiptn, the Mornington and Roslyn lines 16 per cent., and (lie Maryhill .section 47 per cent, over the receipts for flic year before the lino closed. Tic contended (hat this was a triumph for the electric haulage of cable lines. The candidate argued that the council had shown some signs of progress in tramway matters, instancing the fact that material had been ordered for the Opoho extension, and that the coiml ruction of an electric line to Maori Hill was under consideration. Ho agreed l that Kennnire road was the natural terminus for the Mornington line, and said it would he a good thing if the lino up Howe at reel could bo. lifted up and laid towards Hie harbor, as there was good business waiting for (he trams round Pol idiot, itav.

f’r Wilson began by expressing (he hope that Mornington, which had been later than Cnversham in joining the city, would participate in the next public works loan. He stated that every street, in the district, had been visited, and the m|iiirentenls for the next ten years tabulated, tho total amount involved being £31,559. The council had exercised its power to raise an additional 10 per cent, of the amount of (he last loan, and Alorninglnn would benefit this year to the extent of £I,OOO. Ho had tried to he. fair to all parts of the city. They had been twitted with being wanting in progress!veness,

but ho could assure them that if there were no progress in the council lie would not seek a seat there. He mentioned (lie conversion from gas to electric, light in tins streets, and a coming change to motor haulage for the removal of ashes. This, he explained, was due to the fact that the Health Department would not allow the council to continue to have a- number of small tips at various places in the oily. Referring to the. water supply, (,’r Wilson said that the Southern Reservoir extension, which had been decided on when the Lee Stream proposal was turned down, would slave off the larger work for sonic years. He, thought tho high level supply should he looked to, and suggested (hat Sullivan's dam might be enlarged. The. Elgin road main was giving a lot. of trouble, and they were determined jo replace it with a larger one,. He contend";! that if tramway extensions had been rapidly carried out it would have, resulted in higher fares, and said he was in favor of extending them by degrees. Ho agreed with Cr Shaddock that su.ggv--t.ions for extending the trams to place;! like West Harbor and North-east Harbor were absurd. Mr E. Nicolson moved n vote of iliaoks and confidence in (he speakers. Ho caul it would he dangerous to rephue with inexperienced men those who had the business of the city at their finger lipsMr F. Al. .Slmrtt seconded the motion, which was carried.

LA BOP CAXDIDATKS. - j Four of the Labor candidates who arc , contesting seats on the various put lie | bodies at the forthcoming elect ions ail- ; dressed a meeting of upwards. of sixty persona in the Oddfellows’ Hall, Albany shoe!, last evening. The speakers were Mrs K, Bonnet and Messrs J. \V. .Minim, M.P.. J. E. MacManua. and Joseph Stephens. Mr A. Morrison presided. Mrs E. Bonnet. who is a candidate for • election in tlie. Hospital Board, said that at the present time most of the positions on the local bodies were occupied hy men, who were more concerned about, per,-a,ml glorification than securing tho good of the! peopbe The Labor Party sought to re- ; niedv that condition of things by obtain- j Jug's, measure of representation that | would ensure closer eo-oneralion all round, i and the advancement of the interests of the people as a whole. The hospital rate, as they knew, was the heaviest of our rates, 'and any means that the Labor Party could devise of reducing it, would j be in the interests of the worker; and should met with their cordial support. She would like to see a greater degree of co-operation between the city conn oik; and the hospital boards, so that greater attention might be devoted to the important subjects of sanitation, pure water ami the provision of belter housing conditions. If improved co-npcralion existed, the city councils would'be able to provide employment for a number of men—provided they were suitable-arid thus there would be less necessity for the disbursement of charitable assistance. Furthermore, pure ; water, sanitation, and better house,.-; Mirant j an improved standard of health through- i out the community, and as prevention I was hotter than cure the expenditure of j the hospital hoards would bo conse.'iuen tiy i decreased. (Applause.) She would a iso like to sec a dd-bonr week for nurses. Anoi Imr d'r-rtion in which an improvement was ueee.-wnry was in regard to the treatment of the old people in the Benevolent j

Institution, where a good deal of the diet was very unsuitable. These old people were put out there and too often they )voro forgotten about altogether. At many afternoon teas that were held in Dunedin there was just as much food wasted as there was oaten, and if there was a depot for the reception of these eatables, and perhaps a few (lowers, it would do a great deal to brighten the lives of these old folks.—(Applause.) idle was also of opinion that every encouragement should lie given to tlio honorary medical staff, so that the patients would* secure the fullest benefits of their knowledge and skill. Tho Labor Party hoped that the timo was soon coming when there would bo a State medical service, with a bonus for the centre that showed tho greatest freedom from disease. Another tiling that sho would like to see established—but perhaps in this respect some people, would think that (ho idea was premature —was a night clinic for tho treatment of venereal disease. —(“Hear, hoar.”) In conclusion, Mrs Bonnet said the Dunedin Citizens' League objected to women filling public positions on the ground that they knew nothing about finance. “ I think,” she said, “if one lias balanced tho household accounts on a slender income there need be no fear that the money of the ratepayers will be wasted.”—(Loud applause.) Mr Munro, who is standing for a seat on the Harbor Board, asked : Why was it that the Labor Party was to-day putting candidates in the field to obtain adequate representation, on the local bodies? If they look their cue from tho Press and from their opponents they would not vote for Labor, but he was going to show them why they should support their own, candidates. About eighteen years ago ha had stood for tho City Council, and ns soon as tho Labor candidates wore put forward the. Citizens’ League came into existence, and ever since then the leaguo had come forward in an endeavor to defeat Labor. If the working people formed 80 per cent, of the population, surely there was some reason for the employment of such tactics against them, and for tho trnmping-np of reasons why Labor should be kept out of office. It was just as essential, continued Air Munro, that Labor should obtain representation in, local polities as it was that they should have members iu Parliament if' any serious attempt were, to be made to effect an improvement in tho conditions of the mass of the people. But, people would say, they were out for class legislation. Noj they wore out for mass legislation, and he look it that iu a democracy the people were governed by the people, and that being so, Labor 'had every moral. legal, and logical right to put up candidates to get possession of the means of government, local as well as national—(Applause.) Ha was going to give credit, to the men who at present occupied positions on the ])uhlic bodies for doing their best; but tnelr best was not good enough, and Labor wank'd things to be done bettor still.— (Applause.) The responsibility lay with the workers of Dunedin, and it was their duty to got into this fight, and to place their representatives in the places which t hey sought to occupy.. The reason why Labor was experiencing so much opposition to day was because those who held office were afraid that their misdoing* and their neglect of the people’s interests would be discovered, and .also because (hey were afraid of finding nut that the brains of Labor were as good ns their own brains.—(Applause.) In conclusion, Air Alunro condemned the, policy of the City Council in applying the profits of the* trading departments to a reduction of the rates. Messrs AlacAlanus and Stephens nlstf spoke, and a hearty vote of thanks wna accorded the speakers by acclamation.