LABOUR PLATFORM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 125, 26 April 1927, Page 8

LABOUR PLATFORM.

CANDIDATES’ ADDRESSES.

On Saturday afternoon three of the candidates, Messrs Langstone, Hodgens and Allerby delivered addresses in the Square. Mr F. Langstone was tho first to speak, and stated at the outset that at the present time the populace of New Zealand was mainly concerned over municipal matters. “Few there were,” stated Mr Langstone, “who had the courage of their convictions -to speak their minds in public.” The Labour party, he continued, would always do this. The administration of the borough affairs, he alleged, needed looking into, and in his opinion the public were not getting a fair deal. He cited the recent sale of the lease of the Occidental Hotel, and also the purchasing of a “pig-killing concern,” which, he stat«d, were not by any means in the best interests of the public. He considered that this .money could have been much better expended on roads and in obtaining better buses. Mr Langstone deprecated his own powers of oration, but he knew that his col r leagues would be more able to do justice to the subject. Mr Hodgens then delivered an address, during the course of which he stated that Cr. Graham, who had served the ratepayers for 10 years, was best deserving of the honours of the Mayoralty. . Mr Allerby also spoke* on similar lines to his predecessors. . Mr Langstone was asked his opinion in regard to house rents and the cost of living, to which the candidate replied that if he had had his_ way, the money expended on abattoirs, etc., would have been spent in building houses for workmen and thus reducing the rents.