MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 25171, 10 May 1944, Page 5

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

LAIOUR POLICY CRITICISED

At a meeting at Mornington last night of the Citizens' Association candidates for the forthcoming municipal elections, Or L. J. Ireland spoke of the six planks of the Labour candidates' platform, which were: The abolition of fees for sports grounds, the provision of cheaper transport, the provision of footpaths and paved streets in the suburbs, an improvement of the city water supply, a- renewal of the council housing scheme, and sympathetic attention to the rehabilitation of servicemen. Dunedin alreadv had the cheapest sports grounds in New Zealand, Cr Ireland said, and any abolition of the fees would also necessitate, in all fairness, the abolition of fees for golf courses on corporation property, and the remission of rates on the property of other sporting bodies. With reference to the promise to provide cheapei transport, Ci Ireland, said he could not see how that could be done at a time when the operating costs had increased enormously, while the extreme difficultv in obtaining labour and supplies caused him to wonder how the Labour candidates could .fulfil their promise*of improving the water supply, restoring the housing scheme, and carrying out extensive work on footpaths and roads. So far as rehabilitation was concerned, he agreed that returning servicemen were entitled to the best that could be given them, but he obiected strongly to the cause of the soldier being turned into a political chopping block for national and municipal politics. Cr J. McCrae dealt with the activities of the city trading departments, and spoke of the housing problem in the city. In the centre of the city, he said, there were places that were a disgrace, and were unfit for human habitation. They had been discussed several times by the' council, but the difficulty that faced any attempt to rectify the position arose from the lack of any alternative places to which the occupants of the houses could be transferred. The council should endeavour to build cheaper houses which would be within the means of the average working-class man. Cr -McCrae also said that every endeavour should be made to provide transport facilities for the outlying suburbs. _ Brief addresses were also given by Cr D. C. Cameron, candidate for the city mayoralty, and Messrs R. F. Barr and W. W. Callender, candidates for the City Council