TEN POINTS

Evening Star, Issue 23273, 23 May 1939, Page 7

TEN POINTS

MR P. 6. CONNOLLY'S PROMISES CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION UNDER FIRE THE SCANDAL OF THE KAIKORAI TRAMS PUBLICITY STUNTS OF EXISTING COUNCIL A 10-point policy on which he is contesting the municipal by-election campaign was offered electors last night byMr P. G. Connolly, Labour candidate, in his opening address delivered to between 50 and 60 members of the public in the Security Hall, South Dunedin. His 10 points comprised: Modernisation of the tramway system and an adequate bus-feeder service; continued improvement to the banks of the Leith to prevent flooding; kerbing, channelling, and taraealing of footpaths and carriageways in the suburbs; the erection of new swimming bath buildings and openair baths in city and suburbs; further improvements in the city water supply; the setting up of a Traffic Committee for the purpose of dealing with all matters pertaining to control and regulation of traffic within the city; the continuation and extension of the council’s, housing policy; intensification of afforestation and increase in playing areas; additions and improvements to the Public Library; and improved street lighting. Mr J. P.JRuth, who occupied l the chair, referred to the part Mr Connolly had played in political and industrial movements in the city. He had come very near to obtaining a seat on the council at the last municipal election, and he required only a few more votes this time to ensure his obtaining that seat., .POLICY OF PROGRESS. ‘‘Labour’s policy is one of progress, which; is strongly apposed to the marktime policy of the present council,” said- Mr Connolly., The Independent .candidate who had just withdrawn from the field had referred to. the Citizens’ Association as a coterie of business men controlled hy : the Chamber of Commerce.' He should know, said l Mr Connbly., for he had represented the Citizens' Association not so long ago. “ My opponent,” he stated, “ says neither he nor his association is affiliated with any political body or creed, but that is the usual phraseology of candidates of the Citizens’ Association. Citizens will show their disapproval of the actions of the present council when they record their votes on May 30. Cr Shepherd, who has represented the city for six years, resigned from the council because he did not approve of the practices followed by the City Council—that is, by ~ the Citizens’ Association.” Mr Connolly paid, a tribute to the good work which had been done by Mr Shepherd while in office. He warned - his listeners that in' the next few days they would’ hear a lot of balderdash put across by the Citizens’ Association and its candidate. The association was definitely not non-political, and . not npn T party. He believed; if his opponent were sincere in the statements he - had made at Anderson’s. Bay he would stand as ah independent and not. as a representative of the Citizens’ Association. THE TRAMWAY SYSTEM CRITICISED. Referring to his first point, that of the tramway system, Mr Connolly stated that the citizens of Dunedin, as the ratepayers, were shareholders in all municipal' enterprises;’ ’ The” tramway ' service had 397 employees, it covered 1,603,692 miles in a year, and carried more than 18,000,000 passengers. It was essential to have an efficient tramway service in a city that was largely industrial, , There were £53,000 in the tramway renewal funds in" 1938,’ and some of that money should be spent in making renewals to the tracks. The trains themselves needed modernising.. Many had been in service since 1905. and were obsolete when purchased. The tramway service was showing a loss at present, yet £40,000. of the profit shown by the electrical department had come from the trams. It seemed to the speaker that there was something wrong when departments were segregated as they were. They should be run together. He believed in an adequate bus feeder service. He did not believe in the substitution of buses for trams, for he could not see why use should be made of petrol and oil from overseas when there was plenty of electric power available locally. Such feeder services as those running to Lookout Point should be continued, but Mr Connolly said that the buses should follow a different route from that now being followed, from the city, and should traverse districts where passengers were not as conveniently situated to trams as were those resident along Wilkie road now traversed. Regarding hill bus services, he believed that the safety factor was the major consideration. He was opposed to the routes now being followed by the buses. In the best of weather they were difficult to negotiate, and he did not .know what they would be like in the Worst of weather. Elderly, people in particular did not like using the buses; they considered them unsafe, arid preferred to use the cable cars. They were worthy of consideration. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE LEITH AND STREETS. 'Much important work, with the assistance of the Labour Council, had been carried out by the Harbour Board •on the Leith, and vast improvements had been effected near its mouth. At the same time, the danger of flood had , not been entirely removed, and the menace really originated in the upper reaches. Much work required to be done there, and the city engineer had ; actually asked for £IO,OOO to spend. Tfce City Council had generously halved 1 the amount, allowing him £5,800. Yet they had sent him overseas to learn the best possible methods in engineering —but the first time he asked for money to put into practice the experience he 1 had gained, the amount was halved! 1 Setrect improvements were essential. Because they were the council had 1 raised a loan of £IOO,OOO. The Labour ' council had also sought a loan of a 1 similar amount for a similar purpose, 1 but that had been defeated, simply, ' . Mr Connolly alleged, because it was the j Labour council which sought it. Such work could only be carried out through the raising of loans, and he pointed out j that investment in council loans was a gilt-edged security, and always had r been. He protested against the type of j top-dressing being used to-day by the council, stating it wgs cheap and in- j efficient, easily removed by pedestrians, f traffic, and weather. There must be j something better obtainable. He con- j sifiered that all the work to be done j should be treated as urgent. s “ The erection of new swimming baths can only be, carried through with t loan moneys,” said Mr Connolly, com- c ing to In’s fourth point. “And, al- ] though 1 advocate new swimming 1 baths, the final decision can rest only 1 with the citizens.” He was definitely j of the opinion that open-air baths t wore necessary at both the north and o south ends of the city. The municipal r • baths were not adequate for the city’s i needs to-day. “ The Citizens’ Associa- I \ tidn ipromised that something would be t

done,”, Mr Connolly stated, “ but, as I have said, we have a mark-time council in office, at present.” Labour would be available for works and other undertakings. There should be no question of dismissing men. “ I will not be a party to dismissing any men from, the council’s services while there, is work to be done,” Mr Connolly stated. At the same time he thought that all men who were dismissed would eventually be absorbed' into rapidly expanding industry.

WATER, TRAFFIC, AND HOUSING. Touching. upon the matter of the water supply, the speaker remarked that the Labour council had substituted 50 miles of Sin main with 4in main, and the water supply system had been considerably improved. There was still plenty to be done with regard to the distribution of water, however. It would not be long before something would have to be done to increase storage, and the construction of a reservoir 10 to 12 miles out from Dunedin would have to be considered. This would serve particularly to improve the supply of water to the southern parts of the city. This matterwould undoubtedly come up within two or three years at the most. Am adequate supply of good water was essential to the health of the community.

Traffic was a serious matter to-day, and the formation of a special committee to consider the problems presented was essential. He did not see how the general, section of the General Committee could satisfactorily dispose of traffic problems as well as pay, proper attention to such - varying matters as the abattoirs, women’s rest rooms, milk supply, and i city conveniences. He was strongly opposed to the vesting of these matters in one body. Motorists and pedestrians alike needed a thorough and complete education in traffic control, and only by such an education would it be possible to eliminate accidents altogether. Despite opposition the Labour council had floated a £IOO.OOO loan at 3 percent.. the purpose of which was the guaranteeing of homes for the working man. Ho could pay the council as rent over a period of 30 years, with interest at only 3} per cent.', and then own his house. The scheme, -so strongly opposed, had .been carried on by the present council. To-day there were over 60 houses on Clyde Hill and approximately 100 in other parts of the city. This-had all ■ come about-because the Labour r council had co-operated with the Government. The Labour council had asked for only a £25 deposit, thus enabling a working man to establish himself in a house which could become his own, but the present council had increased-that deposit making it necessary for a man to find at-least £7O. An area nearly as large as that of the city of Dunedin had been planted out by the council in trees, there_ being 14.000 acres under such cultivation at Waipori and other parts. Mr Connolly believed still greater areas should be planted out. The timber could be put to practical uses .under the jurisdiction of the city engineer. Akin to that matter was the necessity for more playing areas in congested parts of the city. He- believed the city engineer should be instructed-io seek out suitable -areas,

and these should then be purchased by ■the city and converted into recreation grounds. That the present reserve of volumes in the Public Library was not adequate was stressed by Mr Connolly as his ninth point. There was a great growth of small lending libraries throughout the city, and that, he maintained, was because there were not sufficient books of the type sought by the public in the Public Library. There was definitely more room for improving the lighting in some parts of the city and suburbs. This could be carried out at no very great expense. Tb installation cost would be the greatest and Mr Connolly promised that if be w-ero elected he would ask the E.P. and L. department to look into this matter. PUBLICITY STUNTS. “ I now want to say something about the renewal funds,” continued the speaker. “Before the last municipal election very few people had any idea what the renewal funds were, so l suppose all the noise created proved educational. 1 believe the council’s policy should be one of wise spending and adequate- saving,” Mr Connolly added, “ and I think that has been the Labour council’s ideas in the past.” Renewal funds,, he explained ; were for the specific purpose, of effecting renewals to a particular department. Once the money was. invested in the funds it could not be taken out unless in the interests of that department. The only real way the council could divert the funds would be to make short payments. In 1927 a new Town Hall was built, and that year £IOO,OOO was diverted—o-r short paid—into renewal funds. There was no outcry then, because it was not a Labour council which did that. When the Labour council used some of the money on similar lines for necessitous works there was at once an outcry. In the last year of Labour's control £51,199, including interest on what was already in the funds (£19,023). had been placed to the credit of the funds. In 1938-39 the funds were as great as ever they had been. Upon assuming office the present council had increased the general rate by 4d. “ I say straight out that this was a publicity stunt,” exclaimed Mr Connolly. “ A General Election was due to follow the municipal election in a few months, and it was hoped by conveying the impression that Labour had mishandled the financial situation to stampede the public.” The present council nad now reduced the rates by Id. but had increased the assessment values for 1940 by as much as 7 per cent., which meant an increase in a rateable value of, say, £SO to £52. PUBLIC SCANDAL No. 1. “ One of the public scandals of 1939,” was how Mr Connolly referred to the council’s purchase of the Kaikorai Tram Company. He gave a short resume of the company’s history, revealing how its profits had wiped out many times the initial costs. In 1926, he said, the mayor (Mr H. L. Tapley), Cr .1. J. Clark, and Or W. B. Taverner had recommended to the Finance Committee of the council that the only payment which should be made to the company was - that... covering- the—actual i

plant, which was to he-valued. The company had then proceeded to bluff the council, and in 1939 Cr Taverner made a complete volte face, with the result the company was offered £8,500, plus £SOO for a now rope, and a figure for the other stock at a valuation. “ I reiterate the whole thing is a public scandal,” Mr Connolly went on._ “ Cr Taverner should be asked to give an explanation why he should purchase the worn-out assets of the Kaikorai Tram Company. Where is the money coming from? Out of the tramway funds, of course. If Labour had done that it would be blazed all over New Zealand and probably halfway round the world. The Kaikorai service will be continued bv the council, and its control will be watched keenly by the city. I hope the service will pay, but I have my doubts.”

Only one question was forthcoming at the conclusion of Mr Connolly’s address, and he was then accorded a vote of thanks and confidence, which was carried without dissent.