Council Condemned by Labour Candidate

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 639, 16 April 1929, Page 9

Council Condemned by Labour Candidate

“POLICY OF INACTION” MR. BLOODWORTHS ATTACK candidate for the Mayoralty of thi> city 1 did so largely as a protest against the policy of inaction, or perhaps it would be more correct to say. against the absence of policy which had marked the term of the council whose term was then expiring. I am in very much the same position the time,’* said Mr. T. Blood worth, one of the four candidates for the Mayoralt> when he opened his campaign at Point Chevalier last evening. There was a fair audience, which gave the speaker an uninterrupted hearing. Mr. Bloodworth said that dissatis faction with the council vas very pronounced two years ago, and the present council had done very little, if anything, to win back the people’s confidence. “At the last election I attributed the failure of the council first, to lack of leadership from th< Major, and am ond, to the fact that a complete overhaul of the council’s methods of administration was needed, and the whole system of local government in this area needed revision. I was defeated in that election, but by n«» means disgraced or discouraged.'* NEWSPAPER ATTITUDE After commenting on the altitude of the newspapers at the last election. Mr. Bloodworth went on to say. “We do not. know what side, if any, the papers will take this time. Per haps, as they all agree that there should be no party politics in local government, and as I agree with them in that, they may decide on this occasion to be neutral and content themselves by seeing fair play all round. As, however, I am still a Labour irya.ii, and still the nominee of the Labour Party, I should take this first opportunity of explaining my position in that respect. I make no apologies for my political opinions. Every citizen should have political opinions and should seek to influence the political •affairs of his country in the direction which he thinks best, and I think it will be agreed he can best do that by supporting some political party. I do not support the Labour Party merely because it is the Labour Party, but because its policy embodies political ideas and ideals which) I believe ere likely to advance the common good. “I have never made any secret of my political opinions, but though I have now been in local bodies here for ten years, no one can say that in the debates in any of those bodies I have ever introduced party politics or done other than advocate measures and methods of administration which I thought were the best to adopt for the general welfare in the given circumstances. “Party politics are introduced at election times, and it seems to me inevitable that that should be so, but local government is mostly a matter of administration, not of legislation. “Dissatisfaction with City Council administration is pretty general. The present council has been criticised from many sources, and by all the three papers. I think it no exaggeration to say that the council now going out of office has proved itself to bo the most incapable, futile and disastrous council which has had charge of the city’s affairs for many years. “I think* it is beyond dispute that the percentage and volume of unemployment has been greater in Auckland than in‘other parts of the Dominion, and in so far as unemployment, in Auckland has exceeded the general average of unemployment throughout New Zealand I attribute a large portion of that excess to the policy of the Auckland City Council during recent years, and more particularly during the last four years. “In announcing his intention to seek re-election for a further term, the present Mayor said one of his reasons for so doing was because there were several big jobs he wanted to see finished. “One reason why I accept nomination is because there are several big jobs 2 want to see started, and I have no confidence that they will be started if the present Mayor and council is returned.” j The principal problems with which 1 the incoming council would have to 1 deal would be transports water supply, j sewerage and refuse disposal, and | town-planning, including traffic outlets, j These were the principal problems i two years ago, and the Mayor’s published election programme then proI mised definite attention to these j matters. Scarcely any of these j promises had been fulfilled. Some of them had definitely been broken. The city had suffered two years’ delay. No section of the community, commercial, business or industrial, could afford to bake the risk of a further two years’ muddle. In reply to questions Mr. Bloodworth said he would support the recall of any member of the Transport Board who was not re-elected to the City Council. It was the City Council that prevented an election when the board was set up. He favoured publicly-owned baths i at Point Chevalier. ; He believed that the City Council j itself was to blame for the unemployj ment position, and supported the I policy that where a man wa3 employed Ihe should receive the Arbitration I Court’s minimum wage. 1 The candidate was accorded a ! unanimous vote of thanks and confi- • dence.