STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume LI, Issue 95, 24 April 1917, Page 5

STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER.

STRIKE WOULD END TO-

MORROW

WEIJ^!GTON, April 24. Interviewed after meeting the Executive Sir James Allen said that ho had ' v. very reason -to believe that the strike would end and that the men would resume*work to-morrow, but he could make* no definite statement. In the Buller district he had been informed that the minors were prepared, ty a considerable majority, to go back after considering thp proposals submitted to them. In the Grey district all the minos but one had carried a resolution in favor of going back. One mine in the North Island, had not submited the result to the ballot.

The Minister gave an emphatic denial to the published statement that one condition, of discontinuance of the strike was the release of Semple and the other prisoners. He did nob think it opportune to make public/at present the otl^er conditions on' which the' men would return to work. It they returned they would return on the' iindorstandihg that there was 'to be no ,_opposition to ;,ihe Military Service Act and that the ''go ;slow s>-policy would be abandoned. . . >

SKSS*"'" I*'1 *'

(Continued from page 3.) '£3370 in Mr McCallum's time to

£1177, with -outstanding accounts

for tho incoming Council to pay to bring,the, balance up. .Surely this ' could' not he culled '^xtravkgnnce Mr Ciirr yaicl he was offering his - services fco. protect the small .settlers, who, neve resenting the imposition of isuch a h"uvy i;ate. He (Air Corry) would show how much they hurl in■cresised. 'In Mr McCallum's time the man with si £ aero section p;iid 18s 9d general rate, in 1916 he paid 21s lid. 'The hospital rat.es were in lOCS os, total ,C 13s 9d; and in 101G 5s 3d, total -til" 7s 2d: so that the increase amounted 'to' 3s sd. And this

saviour of his people wanted to get voces by offering fco make the rnte 2i instead of 2;[, and save tho i voter 2s per annum! Ho was glad to see such a keen interest taken in the hospital, and to be able to say that.it was an institution deserving "the very greatest interest. He had no doubt that'in .this ease-also somo .sort of parrot cry about extravagance would be raised by those who know nothing of what was going on. Although the Pclorus Road Bonrd was on.> nt the smallest contributors

to the Hospital Board, every penny -of the revenue (and more) collected from it was-expended in its own district on the Havelock Cottage Hospital. This was the only contributing local authority which had complained of excessive expenditure. It wrote to every contributing Board, in the •district sisking it to join in protesting against the awful -expenditure; but every Board replied it could not support the request, and the only member on any local authority who wanted to support it was Councillor ■Carr in the Blenheim Borough. It was our duty to look | after the sick and nged and those who had fallen by the way, and, if the expense was more this year than in former years, surely the" members of .the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board could not be held to blame for it all. For instance, the cost of all sorts of provisions and material, was up 100 per cent and more on. account of thewar. 'The, number of- patients in. the Hospital had increased beyond- expecta,tion. The average' number of p>otiepts from tho*" years 1908 to ■ 31st ;;3M^rohi-i ; l^c%;fes- 248 /pcir, .annum,,j ">" *The, new li<)B)j(Hi»l iwas'.: opened^atbotit j.] ?tlie 15th: o| .^eß^bp^l93^^nd;;tlie; ; •3KUd\b^r "oF atinnalV^i jumped to WferMiiJ ;7ear/1916; while during the year ending 31st March, 1917, no less than 545. cases were received, which with the 45 in UosoitaJ made 590 for the year—an increase of about 135 per- centi Was the Board to blame for that? The average cost per occupied bed for tho ■seven years from 1908 was £154 13s whilst, in spite -of the heavy increase in cost of all supplies, the cbfit per ■occupied, bed during recent years was ' £14.1. That did not show extravagance surely. It compared very favorably with the figures of any country hospital .in tHe Dominion It had been said time and again that tho hospital cost an exorbitant amount of money, and that tho Board would not say what it actually did cost. # Well, the contract for tho buildings and extras was £17,960 Is 7d, architect's fees £991 8s ,Bd, clerk I of works £473 19s 9d; total cost £19,-----425 10s, of which the ratepayers paid £8412 15s. The ladies of Blenheim raised by a bazaar and subsidy £ J600; there was.a special Government grant, -of £1000- and the balance was paid by the Grovernmejit. The cost per expenditure to the Blenheim

Borough ratepayers-so far was £10.11, which represented an annual charge of £80. Probably,.no. ratepayer, was paying more thaii £1 per annum in tins connection, \\liere was the extravagahtje in ioho matter of waig'es? The Medical Officer was paid £HOO, ''the assistant ,£l5O, sister £100, 3 charge nurses £65 each, and nurses £26 per annum for the first 2 years, and £36 per Annum for third year, plus.£s uniform allowance. Ho did not consider 'those- salaries, by any means magnificent, compared with the work done they were in his opinion' inadequate. However, the Inspector General had this matter of salaries in

l'i>nd, and it would probably receive adjustment at an early diitc. He was proud of having had the privilege of representing^ the electors for four, years as Mayor and for six years as Chairman of tho Wairau Hospital Board- He oould conscientiously claim that he had always endeavored to d-> his best,in these most,important positions. He would not have asked :!iam to re-elect him this term if it were not for the'almost unanimous request of the Councillors" arid" his-:col-leagues on the Hospital Board. He would willingly have stood down, for the Mayoralty if a representative citizen had. come forward, but in response to si large requisition, and because itwas urgrd that ho should (at, 'all, events whilst the w<ir was on) continue to take a part m attending to the interests 'of the Marlborough lads who have gone to.servo their country, and because he believed that every nian should ■■"do his bit," he consented— Tory much against the wishes of his wife, who was harder to ■ 'persiiade than he was—-to try tt> continue the work inaugurated by him, and which ho thought had been well thought of

by a ;najority of the electors of the Borough. Ho had been glad to do -wha'u he could to help the cause of those who are fighting for us, and *.i liis opponents considered 'his, actions In.this respect extravagant then he said their criticism was impertinent and unworthy. . We had sent away from Marlborough over 1400 men, and had raised for various* patriotic funds over £43,815, and in addition had sent through the ladies'1 committee many thousands of pounds worth of parcels and comforts. ' To all these efforts how much did they suppose Councillor Carr had contributed? He at all events had not, been extravagant in his subscriptions. Did they think Mi* Carr was the proper man to be in charge of these hinds, and to welcr mo zh*i boys back" in name after taking such a very keon interest in their, welfare whilst they were away ? Mr Carr talked to them of the supervision he exercised in Borough matters. Well, 'there were 23 meetings of the Council in the year just ended, of which he attended 13. Some people might blame Mm for talking in this strain, but he did Hot

think they would if they knew every-

thing. His patiericehad been quite exhausted. Mr Carr's favorite method of criticism was to call his colleagues alt sorts of offensive names, and if he was called to order and forced to conduct himself in a proper manner, he uttered all sorts of ridiculous threats;. His criticism

[ 'of• .the Borough Council was that it was an utterly unworthy, incapable, and inefficient body,' and one to which it was no honor to belong. Yete he always sought their suffrages and- pleaded to be re-elected. Why P Could any citizen point out one public-spirited action during the whole course at this gentleman's career that wasftoYhi3 credit.? Mr Oarr's expressions' at the • recent niee'tiings to celebrate Anzac Day were: characteristic., And they Were asked to elect him as Mayor. He (Mr Corry) hoped they would do nothing of the kind. Mr Garr had opposed progress of every kind. P'ror fessing to be a friend of the workers, he had on every opportunity railed /•against the," workmen, and. iii.:~.his usuial * offensive iiT^nner - described jfchem.as "labor agitators,^ -with, .;»• ■^^prei&^r^r'll^ Hospital Bbaxd duMrig\tlie. 'psi6"& Wt^-15'. '■>:- His>^tendances -at ;m'eet* isgs 'we-re as sftillows«»-^5 in 1912," 4 in 1913, 1 in. 1914, none in 1915. Out lof a possible 40 ordinary meetings he .attended 10,' and this did not count special meetings at all. He voted for the erection of the new hospital,; and had ever since been complaining about it, saying it was "A Chinese Pagoda," or applying some other offensive appellation And now he asked them to re-elect him to the Board! Mr Carr was first elected to the Council in 1903 and had served /14.: years under Mayors Penny, McCallum, Parker,, ■'' Corry. Every one of these gentlemen had during their., associations with, him met with His, bitter Opposition and personal abuse.' He (Mr Cprry) was not singular .in that respect. Had they all been wrong ? He thought not. "He trusted that Wednesday would show that the elec- ( tors had given this aspirant for, honors at their hands a lesson that* followed by private -reflection, would induce him to. mend his ways. Mr E. S. Parker (Depatv-Mayor) followed, and touched on some of the leading features of *nuiiioipal administration -and enterprise. Ho expressed especial ..satisfaction with the success of the gasworks. He did not at all times agree with Mr Corry's ideas, but, speaking genet ally- there was not the slightest doubt that that gentleman was the right man in the right place. To turn him down for; Mr Carr would be,a decidedly reactionary step. .

Other speakers, candidates for reelection 'to the Council, were Messrs A. Gurry, W. D, Piko, F. Birch, and J 3 . W. White. /They 4>oke eulogistically of Mr -Corry'a chairmanship of "the Council.

Mr C. J. W. Griffiths, a candidate for the Borough Council and the Hospital Board, was warmly" ap.f)lauded. He referred to his former engthy "associations with both bodies, and expressed the hope that in the near future Lhe' fine ' new hospital now standing' to' the credit of Mr Corry and ,his .colleagues would receive its due .complement in the shape of a water and drainage scheme in the iiorough

Mr "VV. Jordan said that he had no axe to grind and no party to follow. He was ono of those/ who thoughb« that it would have been.1 desirajble to avoid a contest in these abnormal tiroes, hut he was asked to nominate for one of tha. .two vacancies, offering on the Council, and he did so at an early stage. He woxxld be pleased to hay« the honoi" of filling ono* of theso positions.

Mr P\ W Smith said that it would bo a pleasure for him to sit under such fi good man as Mr Corry. Among the things he stood for was an extension of the mains and more light in the streets. Mr L. A. White addressed the meeting on the lines of' his published declaration of policy as a candidate for the Hof-pital Board. Mr parry referred to fclie candidature of Mrs Fred Redwood ' for the Hospital Board. Mrs Redwood .(who was present) had not acted from her own volition but had coma-forward, sit the request of many, peoplp who, like him, thought that a woman could do good service as a. member of that body. He admired her courage in offering herself, and would heartily welrom^ her return.

Mr J. A. Leslie, candidate for the Council, imparted a good deal of "spice" to the proceedings. Invited to speak, he ascended the platform, and designating himself as "new blood" and the fearless candidate, alluded in hostile terms to various matters, blaming the Coaneil with reference to the,loss of the water and drainage scheme, the payment for the supervision of the Alfred Street bridge contract, * he manner in which the Waterlea Park was acquired, and criticising i,he action of the Hospital Board in letting certain work without calling for tenders. Mr Corry replied in vigorous terms and*attributed Mr Leslie's hostility to a mistaken gnevanco entertained against him (Mr Corry) in connection with the Council's 'administration of the law relating to the -registration of plumbers. The Council, did, not make the law and acted in a merely official capacity, and in any casp he himself was not on the Council at the time

Mr Leslie denied this representation of his motives; and finally the chairman intervened and ended the controversy. The proceedings terminated at about 10.20 o'clock with a vote of thanks to the chairman.