TOWN COUNCIL VACANCY

Southland Times, Issue 17659, 17 February 1916, Page 7

TOWN COUNCIL VACANCY

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES. AVhen the nomination of candidates for the vacancy on the Town Council closed yesterday at noon, there were very few people present, those who attended being three of the candidates, each of whom spoke, the Mayor (Mr D. McFarlane), Cr. O’Byrne, and another citizen. The returning officer (Mr T. tv. Walker) announced that an election would take place on Wednesday next, and announced the nominations of candidates in the alphabetical order as follows : Jacob Alsweiler, proposed by .T. S. Hardy, and seconded by W. Sycamore. Thomas Harrington, proposed by John Kingsland, and seconded by W. S. Todd. Edward Sheehan, proposed by Andrew Thomson, and seconded by Lawrence Fraser. Wm. Smith, proposed by Wm. Ferguson, and seconded by John H. Pay. John Winders, proposed by W. A. Cooper, and seconded by Alfred Maliony. Mr Alsweiler said that, in the first place, he made no apology for appearing as a candidate. He had been for practically fifty years or more a resident of the borough, and he thought lie knew the ins and outs of the borough and its requirements. He had for long taken an active and intelligent interest in municipal affairs, and on thase grounds ■ alone, lie thought, lie was entitled to stand. The vacancy in the first place had been created on account of the resignation of Councillor Archer, a man for whom he had the greatest regard, and who had represented, not only Labour, with distinction, but the community as a whole. He did not say that he w’as as well qualified to take a. scat on the Council as Councillor Archer had been, hut all the same he contended that ho hud qualifications which ought to commend him to the electors, lie wanted to make, it clearly understood that he was not out in the interests of any particular party, but for the good of the community as a whole. At the same time he maintained that he was a duly qualified representative of Labour. lie was a member of one of the biggest unions in New Zealand, and one which was one of the best managed unions in the dominion. Mr Hardy, his proposer, was a vice-president of that union, and ho had received official intimation that the Furniture Trade Union would give him official support. There were also other organisations that had guaranteed him support and which would assist his candidature. Upsides having been a unionist of many years standing, lie had boon a consistent advocate of social reform. He had represented organisations on the Trades Council years ago, when the Trades Council was representative of all sections of the community, and when Labour was not so divided os it was at the present time. He thought that when his claims were studied, and given due consideration, it would he conceded that he had as good a claim to take a scat at the Council table as anyone else in Southland. He was not responsible for the necessity of having an election at the present time. That was owing to Mr Sheehan having been disqualified, and lie would say that it was a very deplorable thing that the borough, in consequence, should ho put to the expense, as the Mayor had stated, of £GO. Surely, if business capacity and commonsenso had been evidenced, the present election would have been avoided, and they wanted men at the Council tabic who had commonsenso and judgment. Even now, the position was not satisfactory regarding -Mr Sheehan's candidature, and it was doubtful if Mr Sheehan could sit. He haul certainly transferred the contract lie held; but it was said that the person to whom he had transferred it was his partner, and the question of the eligibility of Mr Sheehan taking his seat might again arise. Mr Alsweiler said that he was not making the reference in a personal sense, but it was for the good of the ratepayers to take note of what lie had said. The cost of living was a burning question, and had been so for a considerable time. Commissions to report on it had been appointed by the Government from time to time. These had given the people a lot of information, but they had all ended in smoke, and seemed to be money wasted, which was not the right thing. The workers felt the high cost of living more than did any other section of the community, and many of them were agitating for rises in wages, they thinking that it was the only way to meet the position. It was certainly one way of meeting it. The workers had been applying to the Arbitration Court for higher awards, lately they had been successful, and they werv quite justified in getting higher wages, more for their labour power. Hut he "lid’ not think that that was all that needed to lie done, When hard times came there would he a tendency to reduce wages. Another way to deal with the "increasing eost of living was to restrict and limit profits. That should he done, hut lie did not think that that would end the trouble. The fact of the matter was that the whole economic svstem seemed to he wrong, and until it was altered lie did not think that there would he any material improvement. The Labour party proposed another way ~f reducing the cost of living, and that was hy extending municipal enterprise. That was one direction in which they runld reduce the cost of living to a limi--1,,,l i-xient. He asked them to take, for iiipte. mills, fish, and bread. For fish ,j ~, r ip had to Iw paid here, whereas at Si.'i.vart Island a big groper could he purchased for I'd, and lots of fish lhal |,i 1,,, consumed if sold cheaply were thrown overboard. If a municipal fish supply were available they might gel a cheap" supply of wholesome fish, which would increase the brain power of the people. He had noticed with great satisfaction that tiie lion. J. A. Hunan had recently supported the establishment of a municipal dairy farm after the reclamation work had been completed. Milk would thus he delivered to the people in a healthy manner, and they would havi cheaper milk. Air llanfm laid been a' prime mover in the establishment of i|i,- abbatoirs, which the butchers in Hie tirsl place were all against, but. which, they now agreed were satisfactory. He suggested, however, that the delivery of mel-.t ."mm t lie* abbatoirs to the (own was not satisfactory. There .should le a properly equipped van for conveying it. They all knew of the clouds of dust, that at limes arose on the North road, and Wiv angiiv. in consequence, it was for

the meat to become contaminated, and that was u matter that should at once be seen to. If he got into the Council he would agitato for a municipal meat supply. They had three hands in Invercargill. which had always been a very musical centre, and he did not think that the bands received the consideration fronv the Council they should receive. They had no proper place to play from, as the present Band Rotunda was out of date altogether, and even when speak, ing from it one could hardly make his voice heard, what with the noise of the trams and other traffic and the town clock. And when a hand was giving a concert there was usually another band I playing at a corner nearly opposite, so that things became so mixed up that there was no enjoyment at all. There ought to be; two other, rotundas, and be was sorry that the Council bad turned down the proposal to have one erected in No. 2 gardens. Besides having one there they ought to have another at Thomson’s bush. In regard to the theatre the Council had never done anything further in disallowing companies to charge extra at the doors. He was not a financier, but lie would not conform to all of tlie proposals of the councillors who were credited with being such. In conclusion, he hoped that the electors would consider his qualifications. He had no quarrel with anybody, but was out to do the fair tiling and tiie best lie could for the citizens. Mr Harrington said that he had very much pleasure at the request of a number of electors in coming forward to contest the vacant seat on the Borough Council. It was a remarkable thing Councillor Archer should have been minister of the church in Invercargill of which the speaker had also for several years been minister, and that Cr. Archer iiad now gone to Wellington to minister over a church of which the speaker had been tiie founder and the first minister. Mr Archer had proved himself to be a good man, and tiie Mayor had said of him that lie had given general satisfaction, and that he could have dispensed with the services of other councillors with better advantage to the town. Several councillors had spoken ofMr Archer to the speaker in the highest terms, and he thought that, if the electors : could see their way to place him in the position, they would have every reason to believe that the same could be expected of him, and that things would he carried on in the same way as Mr Archer had carried them on. He did not appear as the nominee of any federation, party or ticket, which was a w'rong thing to intrude in a contest of the kind. He came forward as a representative of the electors as a whole, and without fear or favour. Ho had no axe to grind, and he was an independent man who would do the right thing at the right time. Certain qualifications were required by councillors. They should have a thorough knowledge of the borough bylaws, as they had to administer them, and in that connection tiie magistrate had on one occasion said that if anyone in Invercargill understood the borough bylaws that man was the speaker. He had an interest in the borough, and the man who had interests of his own was a better man to represent the electors than the man who had none, as he would safeguard his own interests, and at the same time ho looking after the interests of others. A councillor also should helve the mind and the endeavour to attend to the duties that would devolve on him, and should help in making the place better than lie had found it. Ho iiad a grasp of tiie things referred to by Mr A Is weiler: ho was in agreement with him in regard to moat of them, and, if returned, would do his duty towards tiie ratepayers as a whole. His views in regard to the water supply, the tramway system, and other municipal matters were well known, and there was no reason why he should go into these matters. If they saw fit to put him in the place that Mr Archer had occupied, he would do his host to support their interests. He had always been noted for speaking his mind, and would do that always in fulfilling his duties as a councillor. Mr Winders said that in accepting nomination lie did so at the request of the Labour Representation Committee, which was an organisation which many people misunderstood. There were, also some people who thought that if the Labour party got into power, they would be extravagant and would ruin the electors. But the Labour party was out for greater things than that, and were not out for spending money in an extravagant manner. There were men on tiie Labour movement who were quite cap-able-a C occupying any responsible position in tiie town. The Labour party had a clear-cut policy, and were not afraid to publish it. Tiie platform which lie was pledged to support included a plank providing for tiie municipal control, inspection, and ownership of tiie food and coal supply, to include milk, bread, moat, and market and farm produce, and municipal cooling chambers for the food supply. Tiie second plank was a free public library, which, he thought, they should have in the town. The third plank was the establishment of hot water baths and swimming baths. The fourth was tiie retention and improvement of all public reserves, and the prevention and alienation of, or encroachment on any land the property of tiie municipality. Tin; next plank was town planning, but he did not think they could improve on the town, as it had been very well laid nut. The sixth plank was the assessment of all rales mi the unimproved value of land, with special provision lor increment land taxation for civic purposes. The seventh plank was (lie establishment of a general market, which was very much required, and the l.ahonr party was in favour of it because it would reilip-e the cost of living. The people should agitate for it in the interests of the majority of the citizens, iH) per cent, of whom were work-ing-class people. Then they liad the initiative and referendum, by which a per cent, of qualified voters may demand a poll of the electors on any municipal proposition, the result of the referendum to lx- binding on councillors. The ninth plunk was municipally owned tennis courts and howling greens. The tenth was the nniiieation of minor civic bodies, and the election of representatives of all existing Irtish; and hoards by direel vote of the people. Tin- eleventh phink was the extension of workers’ tramway privileges, so ns to enable them to travel to and from work for a penny each way. That would give work-ing-class people every encouragement to Shift out Of the town. They wanted the town to expand, and theretore they must give the people cheap farm He

did not think that the cars should be' run as a money-making concern, but in the interests of the people. So long as they paid that was all that should he wanted. He said that some time ago a loan had been raised for the purchase of new cars, wiien they iiad four or live cars in the tram shed lying idle, and he could not see for the life of him why they wanted new cars. He did not see why the ratepayers’ money should be sunk in that way and put away in a corner of the tram sheds. In addition to the planks of the Labour platform, lie would support any other schemes that were in the interests of the people as a whole. He would not be a party to the shelving of sucli an important matter as the establishment of swimming baths, which could be established at a very small cost He referred to the necessity of swimming baths at Crinan street and other places, and said that he did not see why these bathing places should not he made more convenient, and not compel, as at present, people to dress and undress under trees. In advocating the Labour platform, he was sure to meet with a great amount of opposition from vested interests, but lie held that what was in the interests of tiie majority of tiie people should be given effect to. He had been selected by the unanimous vote of representatives of organised and unorganised Labour, their being ten unions represented, including the Amalgamated Society of' Railway Servants, which was one of tiie strongest unions in the dominion. After the first ballot it was contended that to have outside representatives of labour tailing part was not right, therefore the selection was left to the Labour Representation Committee and delegates from tiie different unions.. Therefore he had been selected by the unanimous vote of Labour, and he hoped he would receive Labour support. It was a Labour seat, and no one outside the Labour ranks should occupy it. Ho would never go to the Council table other than as a working-class candidate, and if he was returned it would ho to represent Labour and tiie people as a whole. A vote of thanks to the returning officer brought the proceedings to a close.