FINAL RALLY

Evening Star, Issue 22953, 10 May 1938, Page 13

FINAL RALLY

CITIZENS' CANDIDATES AT BURN'S HALL Bums Hall was about half-filled last night, when “ Blue Ticket ’ candidates contesting the forthcoming local body elections held their final rally. There were four speakers, Mr W. H. onepherd and Mr Edmund J. t Smith, who are seeking election to the City Council, Dr W. H. Newlands, standing for the Hospital Board, and Mr «J. H. Duncan, candidate for the Harbour Board. Bach of the speakers was subjected to a good deal of heckling from the rear of the ball, but the meeting as a whole was not slow in showing in which direction its feelings lay, and each address was greeted with loud applause upon its completion.. Mr C. B. Barrowclough presided. , Referring to the question of the municipalisation of the milk supply, Mr Shepherd said that he believed some form of control was advisable in order that the public might obtain necessary milk free from disease. He did not “know that it was a matter for the council, and he preferred to get an empowering Bill passed by Parliament, by which the city could demand the reorganisation of the milk supply by private enterprise, and if this did not prove satisfactory the city could take over control as a last resource. ' The first diversion of £32.000 from the renewal funds by the party at present in control had led to other diversions, so that in all £135,000 had been taken out. He would point out that this “little effort’ had caused the councillors to become worried, so that they had to call for the assistance of the city treasurer and the heads of the various trading departments to give a full actuarial report and advice on the renewal funds. MODERNISING THE TRAMS. “ Where did the idea of the modernisation of trams come from?” asked Mr Shepherd. “It came from the Tramway Workers’ Union report, and our Labour councillors can take no Credit for that idea.”- Many of the

suggestions for modernisation would have been given effect to long ago, but the tramway department had not unlimited funds; indeed, the department was a weak one. Yet the sum of £6,000 had been diverted from its renewal funds, and the department could not afford to lose’ its renewal funds. Though Dunedin trams were not modern, they were as good as could be obtained with the funds available. And the department was showing a profit—a small one, certainly, amounting to £4,000 on a turnover of over £204,000. In that the department was unique in New Zealand, as in other centres trams and buses were showing a loss. WHERE IS THE BUDGET? When the Labour Party took over three years ago,” said Mr Shepherd. “ the city debt was roughly £3,000,000, and its assets nearly £4,250,000, ing a favourable balance of £1,250,000. Two years ago my political friends produced their first annual budget, and for the first time in the history of Dunedin a budget showed a deficiency, a sum of no less than £20,250. ■ A year later the deficiency was £42,000. The council’s third budget was due in April, but it has not yet appeared. This is the first time for 83 years that an election has been fought in Dunedin without the budget being first presented. An'd why? They are scared stiff. They dare not produce a budget before.the election. They know that what it must reveal might cause their own friends, who have to foot the bill, 1 to turn against them.” THINGS NOT BOASTED ABOUT.

A recapitulation of the policy of the Citizens’ Association was given by Mr Smith. He contended that a council should represent every section of the community without any political, religious, or any other bias at all. The working man of the city wanted a square deal, and he would get a square deal if the Citizens’ candidates got into power. There were certain things members of the Labour Council had done which they were not boasting about. Among other things, they introduced party politics and caucus control; they had not supported the continuation of the renewal funds; they had abolished the system whereby the heads of departments selected their own employees; they had allowed representatives of trades unions to listen to^’on-

fidential discussions; they had invested £6.500 in the purchase of the Wakan estate, which he maintained was ; inost unsuitable for the purpose for which il was purchased. ; % HARBOUR BOARD’S POLICY. An outline of what had recently been done by the Harbour Board was given by Mr Duncan, who said that thn podicv of .progress would. be maintained in the future. Seventy-three per cent, of the cargo that was .handled at the port of Otago was handled at Dunedin, and that percentage would be increased if the present Harbour Board’s_ policy could be, carried on. . The Citizens, j Association stood for the continuation of that policy. “A PESTERING MORASS.”

Dr Newlands-ifidicated that the Hospital Board’s programme for the future was a comprehensive one, involving about £250,000. To raise this sum the board would have to alter its,policy and would have to raise a loan: ‘ There had been a good deal of criticism regarding the wages paid the board’s employees, but the speaker assured his listener# that the full rate insisted upon by the Arbitration Court was paid. : , Labour speakers had inferred 1 that outdoor relief was not adequate, but the speaker asserted .it was. It was not lavish, but such relief could not be. The main thing was that no .one- was allowed to go in want. Referring to conditions atthe Talboya Home, Dr Newlands admitted the building was old and not conveniently .situated. He thought the Government might be influenced to buy the land and nse it as part of its house-building scheme, and so allow the board to build elsewhere. . • Dr Newlands concluded by referring to several men who had taken leading parts in philanthropic work in former years. “ They couldsnot by any means be'called Labour,” he said,. ,r but no one could possibly question the work they did, and, in some cases, the. per- , sonal sacrifices they made. , It is an evil thing in the party politics of the Dominion —the threatened degeneration of our system of rule into a festering morass, whence even the most chivalrous adventurers may scarcely hope to emerge without some transient contamination. Let us at least cleanse our civic administration from this incipient infection aud guard it against further >• .