LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 21381, 7 April 1933, Page 14

LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS

LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATES MEETING AT CAVERSHAM Labour candidates for local bodies at the forthcoming elections addressed a meeting in the Methodist Church Hall at Cavcrsham last night, and were accorded a good hearing. The 'main speeches of the evening were given by Mrs E. Benuet (a candidate for the City Council), by Mr J. Gilchrist (candidate for the City Council), and byMr L. W Morland (candidate for the Harbour Board); but brief addresses were.'also given by Mrs W.‘ Herbert (who is. seeking election to the Hospital Board) and by Messrs M. Silverstone and Ralph Harrison. Mr W. Hudson (president; of 'tlie South Dunedin Labour Party) was chairman. Mr Morland said it was significant that no candidates for the Harbour Board except those representing Labour had anything to say in support of their candidature. As the Harbour Board was a body with assets of over'threequarters of a million and was a large landowner he thought it was due to the ratepayers and citizens that candidates should make their' views known. At the last meeting of the board the question of work on the ,mole at the Heads was discussed, and in that, connection he took, exception-to the statements of some members that the "work should bt done at relief'rates.of pay. It seemed to be the aim of many members of public bodies to reduce the . wages of . the workers. The work at' the mole was work' that called for skill, was wet work, and was often dangerous, and should be paid for at full and not relief rates of pay’. Skilled work was worth paying for." The workers were supposed to represent over 80 per cent, of the population'of New Zealand, and should be able' to obtain representation by members who would see that coolie rates of wages were not paid., It was time the 80 per'cent, was properly represented, so that, the workers would get a fair deal. - (Applause.) Referring to th* position which had recently arisen over the cool,store at Port Chalmers, Mr Morland said it was lack of vision bv’members of the board that had resulted in inadequate storage beino, provided for fruit. The matter had been allowed to drift. ' The , speaker criticised, the. work of flood protection on the Leith, ' and, claimed that more should be done to give the people a sense of security. The mouth of the Leith should never have been closed up," but allowed to, spread out m the natural way’. While building a number of fine sheds for', cargo on .the wharves the-Harbour Board had failed to provide proper accommodation for about 300 waterside workers, whoso presence was needed for the working of the port. The Labour Party stood for the greatest good, for the greatest number, and bo appealed‘to his listeners to, support the whole of the Labour candidates for fhe various local bodjes. (Applause.) Mr J. Gilchrist said the majority of the people'had rejected the. Labour candidates in the past -because they were regarded- as visionaries, and the practical: hard-headed business men '■ Were chosen. All over the world those liardheadied - business men bad been in power, .but there was one thing which neither national nor. local bodies controlled. .Ho referred, to finance, which was controlled, by a group of men known as banking institutions. lie could refer to tho blunders and gigantic mistakes of the Dunedin City Corporation, which had more or less been the council for the past twenty or thirty years. •-The-.councillors .had grown old m ’the service. It'was.- interesting to note that the oldest municipalities came •Into .exist'ence in Germany, where minill- - savings* banks were established in 1776.’ That probably explained why cities ih.-Germapy, bad been able to look after the -housing of the people and avoid the shims.which occurred in cities at,Home and in Dunedin.’ The speaker was. of opinion that there' - should -be greater co-operationamong . diitercnt lock! bodies. ■ Ho would : hko to sec riuinicipal' bodies in the future hay e far greater powers . and.- tar : greater scope * in which- tplexercisertheir; powers. ■ Ho deplored, the way hi, which tho local Hospital Board had boasted ‘ of not having Spent‘ as much in relief as ‘otlier „ centres. They -had looked at things in terms of .L.S.D.; they, were business people, and,did not think in terms' of". humanity...... Mr Gilchrist claimed that there ■ .was ~ plenty lor Labour to do On' the City .Council. He said " the Labour Party stood tor- the introduction of municipal say mgs banks, though., they, knew that under present legislation' they ; would not have the pmVdr to do so; . In other countries municipalities liad d'emapded that extra powers v bo given to thejh. In Germany the' municipal savings banks made for the benefit of tlie municipality and‘ot the people. - The'Speaker, also quoted the experience of f - English corporations. Municipal'savings, Iwiiks Would inepn a great deal to the people at’such a time as ihe present, wliqn everyone vvas asking where, money was .coining from. It local and national ,bodies had the power that 'was at present -the monopoly- ot ■the'banks, then there; would, be no ddfieiiltyiih finding .money" for■ any nndcr- ■ takings, * Money was found during the war-- from/the" banks,/ and it could be found in! the’, same ,way-in these days. The Labour-’ Party,’ said, Mr Gilchrist, would also igiv.e pypipatlietiq,.consideration to town planning, and would show that there would bo no ,difficulty in eliminating’slum areas; On .Government land there were great areas of timber that could be used for the construction of homes: As they knew, there were many houses in Dunedin' that would be -a, disgrace, to older cities. They in the Labour'stood for a principle ; many pf them no doubt could have achieved office V playing .aiiotber game. Personally he'was:proud to be associated with the .Labour Party.*’ If that party triumphed, locally ah’d nhtiehally, if would bo for the benefit of the people." (Applause.) i Mrs K" Belinet said ■ it. -had- been stated that there whs, no - need -for women-qn the-City Council, but she claimed there were many tilings to which a' wpman could give attention. It was necossaiy for a oouncillor to have a gobd working knpwlodgo of finance, to have common sense, qnd a sonncl knowledge' of things in general. (Ihe council-had a. tremendous number of by-law's but not 5 per cent, of thorn were Carried out. 'Among the questions 'which concerned candidates was that ot contract and day labour. , Hie Labour Party believed in the-day labour system, which it was thought was best. Sanitation'was a matter which could be taken up by female councillors. There were so many ' requirements in Caversham that she thought there wouldiiave been a iar°er attendance. A loan had been raised for the extension of tlie tram line.to Lookout Point, but had not been used for that purpose. She claimed that m bnev raised lor a specific purpose ' should he used‘for that purpose. . The street in Caversham could do with a great deal more attention’. She thought “female sanitary inspectors should be. appointed to' l«iok’ after conveniences and tlie public baths. If returned she would

give attention to-everything which was brought before her, and endeavour to see that the right thing was done by the ratepayers and the citizens as a whole. (Applause.) A vote of thanks and confidence was accorded the speakers.

NORTH-EAST VALLEY MEETING

\ fairly large gathering assembled in the North-east Valley Hall last evening to hear addresses by Messrs P. Neilson, M. Silverstone, and D. Copland. Mr A. Payton was also to have spoken, but an indisposition prevented his appearance, and Mr Bryan O’Donnell said a few words in his stead. Mr Neilson is a candidate for all three local bodies, Mr Silverstone for the City Council and the Hospital Board, and Mr Copland for the Harbour Board. Mr W. M‘Lay presided. The Chairman pointed out that this was the first election in Dunedin for which a full Labour ticket was being submitted for all three local bodies. Mr Neilson said that they should stick to their party through thick and thin.' for it was only thus that the party would be revered and held in the highest esteem by all associated with it. The candidates asked the electors to allow them to hold'the positions of administrators. The City Council should be in the same position as parents, holding the same kindly sway over those for whom they wore responsible. Councillors should'see-that the strong did, not take advantage of the weak, and that the weak received their fair share of what was available. Could they say they were getting as fair a spin from the present body, as if they had Labour members on it P He thought not. After referring to-the recent deputation to the council, Mr Neilson said that early in its career the United Party had passed an Act which stated that, when work was not provided, full sustenance would be provided. The principle of the Act had never been fulfilled, and never would. The fact that Cr Munro’s motion to refer the danse under discussion back to the committee had not been seconded proved that at least one more Labour member was wanted on the council. If the council had been sympathetic at heart with the unemployed it would have allowed the matter to be debated. (Applause.) At the time of the Leith flood it was shown that a great many slum areas existed, but the council had done nothing, as a local body, to compel landlords to demolish these slum houses. In fact, he could show them a house which was condemned in 1914, but which had been repaired only a little. He claimed that it was a disgrace to their governing body that such a state of things could pertain any longer, and it lay with the people and the power of their vote to see that a change was coming. After criticising the working of the Hospital Board—with particular reference to a member who was stated to have said that the board kept applicants for succour on the bread line— Mr Neilson -went on to say it was deplorable that electors would not wake up to their responsibilities. There were many people who would not ask for relief because of the degrading questions they were asked before any assistance was given. If the electors did him the hqrtour of returning him at the poll he made bold to say tnat they would hear liis voice. (Applause.) He had had some four years’ experience on the Maori Hill Borough Council, which had carried out practically the same kind of work on a smaller scale. In touching on the early days of municipal government, the speaker said it was the failure of private enterprise that led to municipal governments establishing social services. One of the functions of the Labour representatives would be to carry the torch still further in the matter of extending the social services. He sincerely hoped. that they would rally round, and support the Labour candidates for all Ideal bodies. (Applause.) ■ Mr Silverstone said that if the workers of Dunedin —whether they were cutting scrub or working in an office—realised, that they were just workers and no more,! and that they were being milked just the.samp as a cow for every 3d of their labour power, if they realised that 99, per cent, of- them. always wou!d_ bo workers no matter how hard they tried, they would always vote for their own class. (Appjause.) Perhaps they had heard the advice of some of the Labour Party’s critics, who maybe bad advised them not to listen to those who spoke 'in,loud; strong tones from the platform. Lot them remember. that history had proved that the people who talked the softest had always been the greatest exploiters of the .human race that ever .lived, and had sucked the very life blood out.of their subjects. -It was high ;tinie they, gave their own people a triak (Applause.) A well-educated man or •woman was not necessarily an intelligent man or woman. Soine of the most incompetent persons he had known had a string of letters after their names. Outside their books they were absolutely lost. (“Hear, bear/’) “I ask you not- to vote -for.a man simply because be is popular,” added Mr Silverstone. “ Don’t follow the crowd. It is what a man has done that matters. If \vc get a majority we are not. going do administer the affairs, of the city in :the interests of the wealthy class. They can look after themselves, as they'always have done in the past. (Applause;) If, last year’s votes for Labour,representatives are doubled it will be the last time there' will be a conservative City Council.” The speaker criticised the personnel of the Hospital Board and its method of distributing relief to the needy, and stated that, if they had a working class board, needy applicants would, get alhthat was necessary without being asked what their grandmothers died of.' (Laughter : and applause),. Had they noticed the policy of the City Council ? The first’consideration of the council -was to keep itself solvent even if the people suffered. In a former report of the town clerk it had been stated that during the year qndor review they had actually spent less than .was budgeted for. This, it was stated, had been accomplished by careful overhehd spending during the year. In plain words, said Mr Silversfoue, this meant that men had been sacked. The policy of the council was to look after the big ratepayer. From 1922 to March, 1932, they took £295,000 of the profit from the gas, E.P. and L., water, and tramway departments and used it as a means of reducing rates. This was done for the relief of the rich. What differonpo did it make to -the worker?' It .was necessary for the people to alter such- a policy, and they could do it by giving Labour a'trial. If Labour had its way they would get their new waterworks before, twelve months had passed. The present council was bluffing in regard ito this question. .Mr Copland, who said he represented the Waterside Workers’ Union, stated that over 300 men were employed, and it was claimed that they should have representation on the, Harbour Board. Most of those present would no doubt be more interested in the activities of the , City, Council, but, .in a sense, the Harbour Board was really the more important of the two bodies' because it could be,termed the main artery of the city’s life. His' opinion was that, the affairs of ■ the hoard could , have been much better managed than they had .been. The board’s policy had never been, a definite one, the. result being

that it had got nowhere. Large debts, on which much interest had to be paid, bad accumulated. It was also his opinion that the new dredge had not been put to its full use. If ho were elected to the board ho would put forward every effort to make Dunedin the main port, for the discharge of goods at Port Chalmers meant that the purchasers in town had to pay larger prices. He would like to appeal to them to support the Labour representatives when polling day came, for they would find their candidates just as sensible as, and, he believed, better and more-prac-tical than the average so-called business man. He had yet to learn that the business man came up to the practical man. As a rule the business man merely sought to find what could be made out of the business, without any thought to the deeper effects of his policy Referring to existing conditions, Mr Copland said it was disgusting that they should bo asked to live under them. They should absolutely refuse to work under them. There were two ways of getting’what they wanted. One way was by force, and the other by resort to the ballot boxes. As members of the Labour Party they could not resort to force, and must adhere to the’ latter, which was the constitutional method. The speaker concluded hy saying that there must be no more apathy amongst workers. If tliev wanted justice they must flock to. the polling booths and put men of their own class into, power. -(Applause.) The speakers: were accorded hearty i votes of thanks for their 'addresses.