THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS,

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 20 April 1907, Page 2

THE MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS,

MR J. K. JOHNSTON AT THE DRUIDS' HALL. Mr J. K. Johnston, a Labour candidate for the Nelson City Council, addressed a cheating of electors at the DiuUs' Hall last night. There was an atter-daiice of about 75, ahd Mr Lukln occupied the chain . Tli" Cllairfilan, in introducing the candidate, said' there had been too many persons in the Council with an axe to grind, and th« time " had t come when some ono with no axe to giltid, like Mr Johnstou, should bs sent 1n... The Chairman eulogised the . caildidato as an upright Aii}! honourable, mart. No oiie of the Ldbpuf {>aft f who had been placed .iii ppsitipiis of trust had betrayed that trust.. ... ' , ■ . Mr Johnston, who.was received with applause said the first municipal platform of labour Was purity, ot administration. There were many things in the City Council of which he and others had suspicions. ■ and •he desired to verify them'. They had criticised matters from the outside, and now they sought to go inside and see for themselves if all was right. Perhaps things were not so bad as they appeared to be. He did not say there had been corruption ( in city municipal affairs, ku(> there were indications pointing in that direction. The second platform of labour was that the corporation works; should ■ be done by day. labou-M unskilled day labour at least, such as the drainage scheme. The candidate referred to various contracts and various statements and assertions- 1 that have been made recent]^ ae . Lmrea that such conditions wouljd not prevail if day labour were employed. The third plank was rating on the unimproved value, and the question would be falsed agaiii, a further effort being njade to gl?t the sufflfcifcnt number of signatures to a requisition for a poll. Mr ..Johnston explained, the system liroadly, and . sa.id. that 46 boroughs which had adopted it had conditions very similar to- those in- Nelson, and it should suit Nelson. . The next plank was the municipal gasworks on a business basis, with a separate manager and account. He urged that the. works should carry its old and new debt, have ac sinking fpnd, ami pay their shaft. of the overdraft. Plank b was the abolition of the office of City Surveyor and the appointment of a foreman of works. When the gasworks were under a separate manager and a separate drainage engineer was engaged, there would be little for a City Engineer to do. While £300 a year was perhaps too little for a good city engineer, a first-rate foreman of works could be obtained at that wage. The sixth plank was the abolition of borrowing and doing works out of revenue. He proposed that each mun/gipal undertaking should carry its own debt, and pay it oif. Gicbol'ne had .paid off its overdraft. «iid ivitli lhe right men in the City Council it should be done here. The seventh plank was that all committee_ meetings could be held ai night. rhe day committees had kept many good men out of' the Council, and he thought that too much was referred to committees. The final plank was municipal dwellings for workers. The city had two blocks of land — Milton's Acre and the Maitai Bank. "He was opposed to any portion of the Maitai Bank being sold, and the city should retain these areas for workers' dwellings. In Dunedin land had been set aside long ago as cily assejs, and this should He dbii'e in Nelson, for all knew that laild rose in value as population increased. Dealingjwith the drainage scheme, Mr Johnston went over the ground already frequently traversed regarding, the septic lank, price of concrete, the crack in lhe floor, etc., and said the contractor should be held strictly to his contract. The abattoir, too, could be made to pay by I utilising the waste products. It was the by-products of freezing works that paid the profit, not the meat itself. With regard to lhe Mayoral election, organised labour had agreed to support Mr Piper. (Applause.) Mr Johnston defended Mr Piper against the charge of want of tact, and said he was simply endeavouring to hold his own .(Applause.) There was one Councillor who endeavoured to bait Mr Piper at every Council meeting, but he had overdone It. (Applause.) The last mandate of the city had been in favour of Mr Piper, and he hoped it would be so again. (Applause.) He (Mr Johnston) had b.een told that he would have a better chance if he had not been a member of the Labour Council. He was a member and intended to remain one, whether he was elected or not. He belonged to the ranks of the rentpayers and the small ratepayer, who had been much ne glected in the past. (Applause.) In reply to a question, Mr Johnston expressed himself in favour tf an absolute majority vote in Mayoral or other elections. Mr Bray mover, and Mr Cheel seconded, a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Johnston, which was earned unanimously and with applause. The meeting then terminated. Mr Piper, who seeks re-election as Mayor, will address the municipal electors at the Theatre on Monday evening next, when he will reply to critics and unfold his policy. In our report of Mr C. J. Harley's address at the Theatre on Thursday night the appended appears : "He (Mr Piper) would not speak to the City Surveyor, and gave all his instructions in writing. (Cr. Grace: It is not true.) He (Mr Harley) di dnot know whether it was true or not ; but Mr Piper had written to that effect in a letter to the newspapers." In case there should be a misconception of the exact statement Cr. Grace desired to contradict, it may be explained that he referred to the Mayor not speaking to the City Surveyor at all. Obviously from the context he did not contradict the statement that instructions were given in writing. Mr E. H. Bisley^ a candidate for the Nelson City Council, has an address to the municipal electors in our advertising columns to-day.