LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20704, 30 April 1929, Page 12

LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS.

CANDIDATES’ ADDRESSES. THE CITY MAYORALTY. CR HAYWARD IN GEORGE STREET HALL. Cr Hayward addressed a fair attendance of ratepayers in the George Street Hall last night, Mr M. Stevenso . presiding. The speaker dealt exhaustively with the financial position of the city, and the various amounts of money allocated to the different public works. He explained certain works which he considered-should be tendered for, and expressed the opinion that better results could be obtained in respect to some if more up-to-date methods were adopted. He stressed the importance and necessity of Waipori being linked up with the Government hydro-electric schemes, and made quite clear the fallacy of keeping it an isolated power station. Mr R. Ferguson moved a vote of thanks to the speaker, and said he wag very glad to find that the candidate was the master of one of the most difficult problems that the City Council had to face—that of the disposition of the Waipori power scheme. He was also pleased to note that associated with Cr Hayward in thi a matter were Crs Shacklock and Scott, and he sincerely hoped that they would all be re-elected to carry on the important work of transferring Waipori to the Government. Mr Butle seconded the motion, which was carried with acclamation, LABOUR CANDIDATES. MEETING AT SOUTH DUNEDIN. Labour candidates for seats on the City Council and the Hospital Board addressed a meeting of electors in the South Dunedin Town Hall last evening. Mrs A. Herbert, candidate for the council and the Hospital Board, was the first speaker. In her opening remarks she stated that it was surprising that there were no women on the City Council nor in the Parliament of New Zealand; therefore they could not blame the men, the cause being their own apathy, Mrs Herbert outlined in detail the work performed by the women in England, and the positions held by them, also mentioning that there were 80 women candidates in th@ field in the coming British elections. The female point of view on all questions in civic government was essential, and'the Labour Party, in their sincerity to give the women this opportunity, had selected her along with the other candidates to place before the public these opinions, . In Dunedin, there was an urgent necessity for the extension of faculties for women and children, such as more rest rooms, creches, recreation grounds, and the appointment of women patrols to I watch and protect children while at play. The speaker stressed the needs for better roads, and more liberal concessions with our tramways. She appraised the need of encouraging local industries, pointing out that in the gas department of the corportion the sales of imported stoves exceeded that of the sale of the local manufacture. Mrs Herbert criticised the statement published in the local press by Cr Shacklock in connection with Waipori, stating that Waipori had served the city well in the past and would be quite capable of serving it for a few years yet, if properly developed. She pointed out that before any sale of this valuable trading concern the full facts should be placed before the electors and a decision by them obtained. Mr Robinson said that the Labour Party entered the municipal arena because of its conviction that, while credit was due to the present council for the measure of success that had attended its municipal undertakings, its well-known conservatism had prevented the development, the extension, and the expansion of those undertakings in a manner that would -enable the municipality to render full service to the people. The first principle of the Labour Party was “service,” and in all _ its numerous undertakings, political, civic, social, and industrial, it conformed strictly'to that principle. Its objective Was the organisation of the municipal departments in the manner most effective for the service of all the citizens, together with the extension of the existing trading enterprises (trams, buses, electric power and lighting), and the promotion of new public services when considered essential to the interests of the people. One of the chief shortcomings of our present council was that its members as private business men would not permit municipal undertakings to develop to the disadvantage of private enterprise, and they would not' extend municipal undertakings to new fields in which it would compete with, and perhaps defeat, private enterprise. The difference between the Labour Party and the present council was that the former stood four square for collective service as a first principle, while the latter stood four square for private enterprise as a first principle. They could not expect the best results from co-opera-tive undertakings if they placed those undertakings under the control of men who were not in sympathy with co-opera-tion. If they desired to succeed in their co-operative undertakings they would have to place their municipal departments in the hands of men who were pledged to the principle of municipal co-operation. And the entire policy of the Labour Party could be summed up in the one word co-operation.” The Labour Party would urge that the Municipal Corporations Act be amended to permit the corporation to purchase the land suitable for settlement in those outlying districts. If it extended its tram services at the present time all the land available for the erection of workers’ homes would be bought up by land speculators, and the corporation would be helpless to prevent the general exploitation that would take place. They would like to see the transport services extended for the benefit of the people, but they should not like to see the people pay* ing for the extension of transport services for the benefit of land speculators. They thought that the Act should be amended to permit the council to acquire such property to the end that worker settlers could in _ turn acquire homes at a reasonable price. They thought that in the districts referred to bus services might be extended and intensified as required as an experimental venture. We could experiment with the bus extension, for, although it was true that it -was more costly to run a bus than a tram, the capital expenditure was not nearly so great. CIVIC AND OTHER MATTERS. At the Albany Street School Room on Saturday night, Mr W. Jones, a candidate for mayoralty of the city, addressed a meeting of electors. Other speakers were Messrs A. Morrison, J. W. Munro, and M. Silverstone, and all were thanked for their remarks. MR E., SINCOCK’S CANDIDATURE. MEETING AT MORNINGTON. Mr E. Sincock addressed a meeting of electors at Mornington last evening. In looking over the work of the last two years, he said, there were certainly grounds' for satisfaction so far as the results' of the trading departments were concerned, and they could look forward with confidence to a continuance of sue? cess. It was pleasing also to note the great improvement in the cash takings at the Municipal Baths. For many years the revenue annually was between £7OO and £BOO. Since the alteriation in the management it had improved until now they were in a position to say that the takings were nearly doubled, and the vear just closed showed its takings to be considerably over £I6OO, thus showing that the reorganisation was a move in the right direction. Other matters had received attention, and he thought much good work had resulted. He felt he must give credit where it was due. ' With all the faults of the council they could not close their eyes to the fact that the other centres looked upon Dunedin as the best worked municipal organisation in the Dominion. However, there was always room for improvement, and as time went, on

so improvements would be effected. One could not but regret the disaster which overtook Dunedin a few weeks ago, with the coming of the flood and its attendant damage. Much blame had been cast on opr local bodies for their seeming neglect, but he would like to say that it would not be possible to avoid some trouble in such a storm, seeing the mouth of the stream had been so closed in. However, it was now the duty of the Harbour Board and City Council to look upon the Leith work as an urgent necessity and' do all in their power to remedy the evils. Not only did this apply to the Leith, but also to the Kaikorai Stream. Lindsay’s Creek, and the Burnside and Caversham tunnel trouble. He was strongly in favour of the retention of the Waipori works by the city. He believed the city had a very fine asset in Waipori, and was entitled to the profits accruing therefrom. If a sale must be effected then they must see that a proper contract was entered into by the, corporation for a term of years, not less than 25, and, if possible, longer. He was an advocate for all work being carried out on a permanent basis. The strictest economy should be exercised without reducing the quality of the work. He was also of the opinion that the suburban roads should receive more attention than at present, and, when being repaired, the street roller should be used as in the more central parts, and where suitable, tar-scaling should be done. He was favourable to trying the contract system to see how it would compare with the present-day work system, but he believed day work by their own employees should be cheaper if properly organised and managed. He would support a scheme for workers’ dwellings if required. ST. HILDA MAYORALTY. ADDRESS BY CR. LONGWORTH. There was a fair attendance in the St. Hilda Town Hall last night, when Cr E. Longworth, one of the four candidates for the mayoralty of the borough, addressed the ratepayers. . The chair was occupied by Cr H. H. Leary (Deputy Mayor), who mentioned that the candidate was one of the two oldest members of the council, and also referred to his lengthy services on behalf of the community. Cr Longworth stated that Cr Telfer, who occupied a seat on the platform, had 18 months more service to his credit than the speaker had. He also stated that he had been a member of the Drainage Board for eight years and a member of the Ocean Beach Domain Board for three years. The speaker stated that when he entered the council in 1919 the finances were in a very low state owing to the rising cost of everything during the war period. The council was working on a large bank overdraft, and several loans were without sinking funds. In 1921 reorganisation was brought about, and expenses were cut down to a minimum. Mr Douglas was appointed in charge of the outside staff, and the present town clerk (Mr Griffin) took over in the office. Since then the borough had steadily progressed. Early in 1921, if all the accounts had been paid, the council would have been £I2OO over the limit the banks allowed. When the Local Bodies Finance Act was passed the borough’s antecedent liability stood at £8022 Is Bd, comprising a bank overdraft of £3122 Is Bd, plus deposits at cal? (£4600). An antecedent liability loan was raised in September, 1922, for a term of seven years with interest at fl per cent, and a sinking fund of 3 per cent. It would require renewing in September next for a lesser sum of £6OOO owing to the accumulated sinking fund and possibly at a lower rate of interest. The following figures showing the balance at March 31 during the last seven years would prove how the borough had progressed:—l923. £2722 8s 3d; 1924, £3620 6s 9d; 1925, £3195 5s 6d; 1926, £IB7B 6s 4d; 1927. £2271 9s 8d; 1928, £3345 14s lOd; 1929, £4400. In 1925 and 1926 the expenditure was increased owing to extra reticulation of water mains and the buying of plant. In 1924 the plant consisted of a few picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows, whilst the council now possessed a roller, scarifier and grader, tar-spraying machine and bitumen plant, motor lorry, also a new mower for grass cutting on the parks. In May, 1922, the council disposed of the Musselburgh quarry to the Drainage Board, and thus got rid of what was proving a costly “white elephant” to the borough. The _ borough was well served with an extensive alarm system, with engines and fully-trained men at a moment’s notice, costing this year £550 according to the agreement with the Fire Board. The water question caused much concern in the council some years ago owing to the poor pressure in all parts of the borough, especially the outlying portions. Eventually Mr Lewin suggested that the only_ way out of the difficulty was a special into the borough from the main a,t Wilkie road, with no draw off until it came into the borough. During Mr Todd’s term the matter was brought to a satisfactory conclusion, the city doing the work and St. Kilda paying 5 per cent, on the cost, which was £2600, thus saving the necessity of raising a loan in January, 1923. The pressure was then too high, and the council had to install a reducing valve at a cost of approximately £lO5 to give an even pressure. Unfortunately, they had not been getting the pressure during the last few months which they were entitled to, and he thought this should be carefully watched. During the past few years the council had been reticulating on both sides of the streets to obviate cutting into tar-sealed roads when a burst occurred. .The question of shifting the existing main in the western part oi Bay View road was now under consideration, and must be attended to before the City Corporation tar-sealed its portion of this road. The water account last year had a debit balance of £249 6s 9d, and this year a smaller debit of £212 13s 3d, making a totol debit balance of £462, so that unless ratepayers practised economy the council would be compelled to increase the water rate at no distant date.

The question of the electrification of the borough had engaged the attention of the council from 1020 till 1925, when he (Cr Longworth) had suggested a deputation to the Electric Power and Lighting Committee of the City Council, and the following were appointed:—The Mayor, town clerk, and Cre Leary and himself. The council accepted the terms ottered —25 per cent, on completion, the balance in three instalments at 01 per cent. _ .The borouph was in such a good financial position that the council paid 75 per cent, on completion and the balance the following year. la 1922 the borough had 100 gas lamps and 29 electric lights at a cost of £Bl4, and in 1928 it had 170 electric lights at a cost of £GO6, thus effecting a saving of £2OB per annum. Some hard things had been said about the 'works in the borough, and the council and the staff had had a lot of criticxsm levelled at them. It was only during the last five or six years that local bodies had been confronted with the task of coping with the ever-increasing motor traffic on the roads. Some better method of dealing with this had to be looked for. Tarred_ metal had been fairly successful, but it was found eventually that the only solution was to tar-seal the The council could not do much in this line out • of ordinary revenue, hence the loan proposals. Cr Telfer got a loan proposal through, and the council asked the ratepayers to sanction a loan of £25,000, the idea being to keop the interest and sinking fund charges within the scope of the available revenue without increasing the rates. The balance, it was considered, could be borne out of ordinary revenue for five or six years. Kerbing and channelling had been completed by the council’s own men at an average cost of £8 per chain, and he considered that they had got a first-class job. Unfortunately, the work had to be speeded up to cope with the unemployment problem,' as the original intention was to spread the work over five years. In respect to tar-sealing, it was stated that they were not getting a first-class job, but he would ask: "Were they paying for a first-class job? Trinidad asphalt with a concrete foundation or even ordinary asphalt would require expenditure which was not warranted in a suburban borough. What was authorised in the loan was tarsealing, which they were getting, and which, he submitted, was far ahead of the old system and would not prove so costly to the ratepayers. The speaker said he thought they would agree that much good work had been accomplished by the Drainage Board during the last few years. The main carrier had been completed from Forbury crescent to the outlet at Anderson’s Bay road, near Queen’s drive, new storm water drains had been put in Prince Albert road, nortion of the New street old box

culvert piped and several of the streets connected to the carriers. Mud tanks, totalling 133 in various parts of the borough, had yet to be connected up, and he was satisfied that in a short time the whole of the drainage would be completed in this district. During the last few months the whole of the eastern portion of Musselburgh had been connected up. On several occasions he had attempted to get work started on the Wilkie road conduit, which had been the cause of so much trouble. The flooding of Harbour terrace by the Leith was at present occupying the minds of the board, •and he thought that the sooner the three local bodies got together to do something for the protection of these people the better for all concerned. Cr Longworth stated that some of the maintenance works had had to go by the board so far, and during the winter the staff would have to attend to many of the footpaths. The speaker upheld the system of rating on unimproved values. After several questions had been answered, Cr Longworth was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, and a similar-com-pliment was paid to Cr Leary for presiding. HARBOUR BOARD. MR MORLAND’S ADDRESS. A meeting of ratepayers, held in the Albany Street School Hall on Saturday night, was addressed by several of the Labour nominees for the mayoralty, the City Council, and the Harbour Board. Mr W. Morland, who is standing for the Harbour Board, said he regretted the inattention the election to the Harbour Board was receiving. This was not as it should be. While all other interests seemed •to be represented to the full on the board he claimed that the workers did not have their du e representation. The Harbour Board was a peculiarly constituted body, as so many members were elected without having to contest a popular vote. What he objected to most was that whereas the shipping interests had their due proportion on the board by other than the popular vote, which he had no objection to, they then sought to have extra representation through the number elected by popular vote. Mr H. C. Campbell was reported to have said that he believed in everyone being properly housed. This was a noble ideal, but would Mr Campbell say the shed the watersides occupied was in the nature of good housing? It was a disgrace to th e port. About 700 men who had to find their living on the waterfront had to spend a considerable number of hours daily in this shelter, where there was no proper convenience or means of recreation, and on wet days it was intolerable in the extreme. On the wharves, it was absolutely essential that the safety of the workers should be a first charge. Yet they were in a deplorable state and called for immediate attention. Another matter referred to by Mr Morland was the erecting of cranes. These, he claimed, were not large enough. Whenever a load exceeding three tons was to be lifted a good deal of time was wasted before the men could erect suitable appliances to accomplish the work, whereas if a crane capable of lifting, say, 10 tons were available, much time and inconvenience would be saved. He also claimed to have a thorough knowledge of all the functions of waterside work, as he had travelled extensively and had used his eyes to observe how improvements could be effected. If elected, these matters would receive all the attention hie knowledge and wide experience allowed, and he would do his best to have some of these anomalies removed. First and foremost he would give decent conditions for the large number of men on the waterfront in the shape of better housing and working conditions. Necessities in .these forms should take precedence over luxuries, and this would be his policy. He thanked his audience for coming to hear him, and urged all present to do their best to secure his return, along with the others on the Labour ticket.

The candidate was accorded a vote of thanks for his address. (Published by Arrangement.) AN OPEN LETTER TO THE RATEPAYERS AND HOUSEHOLDERS OF DUNEDIN. Ladies and Gentlemen,—l take the liberty of writing to acquaint you with the fact that I am a candidate for a seat on tbe City Council, and I, confidently appeal to you for your support on polling day. My policy, which is progressive, provides for more economical and efficient administration. No loans without your consent—a less unscientific system of valuation and rating—an adequate supply of fresh, clean water—protection against flood, and an adequate drainage scheme. Better roads and footpaths—appropriately equipped and safe play areas for children —encouragement of local manufactures—payment of rates quarterly or half-yearly —reduction in long-distance tram fares — an investigation, of the problem of unemployment—development of Waipori to its fullest capacity, and no sale without a mandate from the ratepayers. * If you elect me to the council I shall serve the community to_ the best of my ability. I am not associated with any ticket, and have made no promises, but will devote myself to the faithful discharge. of all duties that may devolve upon me. I respectfully submit myself to your wise judgment, and with your decision I shall be quite satisfied. Do not allow yourselves to be confused with so-called “ official tickets.” You are not obliged to do as certain sections would advise. Retain your individuality, and record your vote for those whom you conscientir usly believe possess the requisite courage and capacity to administer the affairs of the city without fear or favour in order to effect the maximum amount of good to the greatest possible number at the least possible expense. If you require transport to and from the polling booth, please ring 11-234, and I shall be pleased to make arrangements for your safe convey-' ance. Anticipating your elective Support, and thanking you for your right]}- placed confidence.—l am, etc., yours for steady, safe, and sane administration of the affairs of the city, George P. Cuttriss. Make certain that yon record your vote for Cuttriss, G. P.