LOCAL ELECTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 22947, 3 May 1938, Page 7

LOCAL ELECTIONS

LABOUR'S PROGRAMME “ Our opponents have no policy, all they can do is to indulge in destructive criticism and personal vilification,” said Dr D. G. M'Millan, M.P., during the course of an address in the Maeandrew Road School hall last evening. Three Labour candidates in the forthcoming local body elections —Dr M'Millan, Mr B. O’Donnell, and Mr R. Walls —delivered addresses in the hall, a fair number of electors being present. Ml J. P. Ruth occupied the chair. Dr M‘Millan went on to say that the Labour members of the present City Council had been receiving a lot ol criticism, but they expected that. The Press, of course, could not be taken seriously, so it could be dismissed without further consideration. _ The speaker traversed the main planks in his party’s platform, and devoted a good portion of bis address to a reply to points contained in Mr A. H. Allen’s speeches. Mr Allen had said that_ if he were elected to the mayoral chair, one of his first considerations would be a comprehensive programme of kerbing and channelling. When he said this, Mr Allen knew very well that he was “ talking through his hat,” the speaker said as this matter was not in his hands, but was dealt with by tbo Works Committee of the council. Moreover, it was curious, that, during the lifetime of the present council, Cr Allen was one of the bitterest opponents of the street improvement loan proposal.

Mr Allen, Dr M'Millan continued, had criticised the present council’s action in drawing on renewal and insurance funds for the relief of unemployment; yet while ho was chairman of the Finance Committee in the previous council lie had carried out the verv same policy. Mr Allen had also complained against the hose tap charge, bub £3,000 had to be raised by tins tax, and if ho could show some other source from which it could bo derived, it was “up to ” him to do so. Touching on tho purchase of the Passmore property, Dr M'Millan said that the arguments against it were typical of the Tories.' The city valuer’s valuation of the block was £7,ooo—£-500 move than the council proposed to • pay for it—while the Government valuation was £5,900.

Mr Walls and Mr O’Donnell briefly outlined the salient points in their party’s policy, and both advocated a revision of the Hospital Board’s administration, stressing particularly the necessity for better conditions at Tnlhoys Home and increased accommodation for out-natients at Dunedin Hospital. Mr Walls also touched on the affairs of the Harbour Board, and suggested that silt from Otago Harbour should bo pumped into the ocean instead of being disposed of by what he termed the wasteful method of dumping it outside the Heads. MEETING AT OPOHQ. There was an attendance of about 50 electors in the Opoho Presbyterian Hall last night, when addresses were given by Mr D. Copland, Labour candidate for the Harbour Board, and by Mr P. Neilson, M.P., Labour candidate for the City Council. Mr R. Knox occupied the chair. Air Copland dealt with the achievements of the Harbour Board in the past three years, and detailed the policy for the future. 'Mr Neilson confined his remarks chiefly to the achievements of the Labour Council in respect to the Public Library and the housing scheme. He also defended the council’s purchase of the Wakari property, and touched on the advantages of a municipal milk supply scheme. ADDRESSES AT MORNINGTON. Three addresses were delivered by Labour candidates for local bodies in the High Street School last night, the speakers being Air AI. Silverstone, Hon. AI. Connelly, M.L.C., and Mrs S. C. AlacArthur. There was an attendance of about 60 persons, and the meeting was presided over by Air J. Duff. At the conclusion of the addresses a vote of confidence in the Labour Party was carried by acclamation.

Mr Silverstone spent some time in criticising the opponents of Labour and the capitalists, and referred to the operation of the City Council before Labour came into power in 1935. The late chairman of the Finance Committee, he said, and the one before him, knew nothing about finance, and their work was done by the town clerk. He had been criticised, Mr Silverstone continued, for budgeting for a deficit, but he would like to point out that there was a difference between _ the State doing it and a private business man carrying out the same policy; the State ,went on for ever, even though Governments and councils might change. The first country to discover this had been Sweden. The Bank of England had been founded on a debt, and it was the greatest financial institution in the world. The capital of the Reserve Bank, too, had been borrowed from the Government. Mr Silverstone went on to deal with the city’s finances as they stood at the present time, quoting figures to show that whereas in 1935, nearly 15 per cent, of rates levied had not been collected, this year the percentage had dropped to only 8 per cent. By April 26 last, lie said, a total of £61,000 had been paid off back rates for 1936-37-38. The profits from the trading departments for the year just ended had 000, and they would have been £74,000 if the council had not paid a total of £3,000 in side pay to its employees. If an anti-Labour, Council went into office on May 11 much of the work accomplished during the past three years would he undone, Mrs Mac Arthur, who dealt with Hospital Board matters, advocated the pulling down and rebuilding of the Talboys Horae, and stated that there should be properly-trained orderlies in the institution, and the inmates should be given better food than they received at present. She referred to the staffing conditions and the poor pay received by nurses in the Public Hospital, and held that the wages of the cleaning staff should also be increased. Labour’s policy, she said, was to improve all those conditions, and also to provide accommodation for incurables, and attend to the matter of outdoor relief. Thev were fighting for seats on the Hospital Board, she concluded, for the purposes of humanity. Mr Connelly dealt with several aspects of Labour’s policy referring chiefly to the housing scheme, the question of better trams and tram tracks, the reduction of fares tor 'school children, and the municipal milk supply. He also touched briefly on the subject of swimming baths in the city, and concluded by congratulating the council on the manner in which it had conducted the finances of the city.