HOSPITAL BOARD LEASES

NZ Truth, Issue 725, 10 May 1919, Page 1

HOSPITAL BOARD LEASES

.Throughout the length and -.breadth bt jNevr Zealand politicians an^'jtlie^ heads of (political organiaation3.;an J xi-' pusly awaited the outcome of -v 1 tile ixicai* Government elections.-' fj^lii^f] Weaov seen the result, ana Witiether' that result baa allayed or . incirease'cl' their anxieties depends, m greatVWej&V jkuxe, on the extent of their feaa^>^ %a what would be the verdict "at tha pill*. There can . be no doubt, ;tnat? many of them anticipated Labor majc'-i' On* an eznphatlo onward stride, v^hlsv XASOr hat' done In various towns, {booth m others, owlnff chl6fly to the SaokWftrd. state of orßanlaation, the results hare Only been disappoint^. M Labor's friends, , and' conseQuently; tpmteful mad comforting: to IfcWs enemies. What labor clear%^eai|, is less loquaciousness and better., lead; . Jng; fewer talkers and more tMln^§. 1 ; ."When Labor appoints : ah organ^erTie r Bmmediately begins to stunip 'the Country, whether he. has the gift of imparting knowledge or not. Yawping Is not a necessary part of an iorganie^r's outfit. In most casea It is the only art that Labor organisers seem %o possess. The best-: (political organisers have been silent men, or men Krho did their talking off the platform, pta to some '-(purpose. The H best that can be said of some of Labor's Jko-cfiiled organisers la that they can talki Unfortunately when ..they 1 .do • talk,, and that Is generally at -.eviefry opportunity, the manner m which' they yplce their opinions admits of no contrjadlptlon and- carries with -it -no' 'con--Motion. Had, Labor been possessed -of & proper organiser ■ m Christeihurch, instead Of Ted Howard being, iaii'.vexjqottnoillor, atid Sired. Cboke a defeaittd candidate, the latter m .a ward where three of the , four ■eats, as it. was, were captured ..by Labor, the tyabor party m Cnrlstbhurch would - Shave • swept ,-the i|>Ollfl. The weakness of political Labor $s that its. workers are too fond of the limelight. They, like the opponents tfcw condemn bo righteously and ylgjbpously, anei too fond of place and pre'jttrmentj atUl If a Labor man be bless - Ted with ajct* Ut«e ability at all,' he , immediately w&nlb to use that ability \'A get himsolf - &eoted to a public jbsltionr^of cia^rse. for the .good of in* cWJtea. Indeed,, the present active Members of the Polftloal Labor\ moveteent b New Zealand cannot tinder- . fet&nd th«jtoan^f<ablUty who d 06,« not jßeem anxtoxiajto become a candidate for puhuo o<Qc«, ,; and become very *ttapt<«oua bt Wf inoyres m being- In tte tnoV6ttt«nt at all. .ISKUb attitude \Js fintirftly wtonft and Labor/ if the party Is to make the best of Its opMrrtonitleSi must "raise" a number of t|ii| who are content to work out of !to ttttwlliflit, «Ad far no personal fftlrt, otheV thaa • tha kaftwledge of torit well done. « • .•.;■■• l Bat dth«rs# besides the politicians. In Wis^llntton district >'at least, were ©onalderftbfy perturbed/ as to the possible outcdtoe of the eleotions, and de*t«rmlned to get In their "dirty work" before tha (possible victory of Labor Was consukhmated. "Truth" was surSliod that not one of the Labor candates m Wellington, not pne of their ■tipporting speakers, drew the attention of the electors to several transactions of the . Wellington Hospital fcoard at its "greetin"' meeting. Had they -done so, there can be little doubt that the Labor vote, r big as it was Under the circumstances, would have been considerably augmented. That the matter referred to ' here was lost ■lght of, or, more likely, never noticed by any of the Labor candidates, lendstoolnt, If not pathos, to what "Tr?uth" lias already said m regard to the party's crying need of capable organisers. Here ds the I'Evening PostTs" lret>ort of the proceedings referred to: \ On the recommendation of the Finance, Property, and Policy Committee, the Board granted leases m tf.-rpetuity to Migs Kennedy and Mr. for/the sections they now ■''■■ "(•(Nby Clifton-terrace, beins '^feftroniof Mr. J.Lockie's leaseholfl, "^hjclfexpires pn April 30. Mrs, B. <, "%-n; Staveren was granted a lease: 'i^ln perpetuity .for a portion of the r jtetesfeKbld now held by Mr. W. H. George on Kelburn -parade. . What is it we have here? It may not be Jobbery; but m ./-Truth's" opinion It is certainly something, that . men and Women who profess to hold their . positions m the Interest of the.community should riot have, countenanced In the dying hours • of a public board. Such men and women jrtiould not only abstain from evil, but from the vary appearances of , evil. • SThis paper does not assert, does iiot even lnainuate, that the members ; of. the lata Board acted .outwith th'o|r. powers, or m contravention of th.c \: letter of the law, but it declares, arid : , that emphatically, - that they have tf ■ acted contrary to .the spirit of the : : Act, especially m the newer light m

which social service and citizenship are viewed to-day. And why such indecent haste to get' the matter fixed up? If the question of granting these leases, could .be - delayed until the last meeting of the old Board," why could it not be held over and left to the discretion of the, new Board when elected? Indeed, the question suggests; Itself as- to the right of any Board going out of office to give what is practically an Instruction to a new Board (the members of which may be absolutely opposed to the proposed policy) to carry to consummation matters which 'they,- have not had an opportunity to ebnsider. It ought to be a matter of honor with sudh bodies neai'ing the «hd of their term of office to decide only urgent questions pf policy, and' otherwise tp confine themselves to administration only. . ■' • • '.•,.'. ••■ ..■■ 'vj - -^Trxith" 4 does not here * raise the question of granting a perpetual lease of a portion of the Board's property to a close relative of a member of the Board, but to. 'the granting 1 pf such leases at all. It is the law of New Zealand that public land cannot be disposed of unless by public auction. To grant a perpetual leas© is practically to grant the freehold, as land so leased cannot be resumed' by a public body or by the Government, except on the same conditions as freehold land may be resumed. Even putting , sugh leases up to public auction does; not 'remove' "Truth's" objection, although it would eliminate all suspicion of jobbery or nepotism: It is'obviously-in-imical to the public wear so to lease public land.. The day may come when the Board may b© desirous of \ resuming that very land, when it will be the exception to the rule if it does not then cost' more than the Board has : drawn from it m rent during the time the lease has been running; .. c •• • • ■ What, then, should be the policy of the' Labor members of the, new Hospital' Board? Following- the usual.procedure 1 , the above "minute," which amounts, as already pointed out, practically to an Instruction, 1 will be adopted as ""a true record" of what was done at last meeting. The Labor members can take no objection to this^ but when notices of motion for the following meeting are called for, one of the Labor members ought to table a motion to rescind all. that part of> th« minute dealing with the recommendation to grant perpetual leases of the Board's land. Labor ■holds that the State should not sell any of its land; that it never, should have parted with the fee simple of a single acre. Neither should it do practically the oame thing under the ffuise ot a perpq tual lease. . If the Government or any public body cannot make better use of the land they Jiold. than any private individual then that land should be leased for. short term© to the highest bidder. Th» best form of leaße,. not only m" the Interest of the lessor, but m that of the leases, is the Glasgow lease (the real Glasgow lease — not the bastard abortion that masquerades as a Glasgow lease under the Wellington City Covnoll). It 1b up to the new Labor members of the Wellngton Hospital -Board' to •put up a strenuous flght to retain the Board's hold upon these leases, and prevent the -patrimony of the people— the right to the unearned increment, to the increased value m such land created by their very, presence— -from being filched from them by such insidious means as "Truth" has herein laid bare. •

Need for labor to be Alert