Citizens Say—

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 650, 30 April 1929, Page 10

Citizens Say —

(To the Editor.)

THE MAYORALTY Sir, — I was very much surprised to read a letter In your Monday’s issue signed “A. J. Hutchinson,” very kindly trying to advise us on municipal affairs. The almost brutal way that he turns down Mr. Murray, probably the best business man of them all—at least, he was the only councillor who had the vision to see what has been going on—amazed me. Mr. Murray Is a perfect stranger to me, and I am taking no part in the election In any way, but I could not let such a letter pass without voicing a protest. CITY RATEPAYER. “MR. RIGHT” Sir, " May I crave a little space in vour columns to express an opinion the f lnject °j!- Mr. Bloodworth’s meeting at Point Chevalier last week, when he emphatically stated that the tim! w£2 opportune for a drastic change in the personnel of the Auckland City Coun- ’ '.. Why has Mr. Bloodworth waited until the eve of the election to stress w hile a fellow councillor a - strenu °us and uphill ba * tle ! ln the interests of the long-attf-hSi® ratepayers, Mr. Bloodwortlfs attitude was scarcely consistent with lbSt PreSent , platform ' Jt see rns to me that several councillors are now veerlng round in their opinion, but when they had this same opportunity some montns ago they failed to give their colleague any assistance whatsoever. -Surely the public has awakened and will this time vote for the right man to give him his opportunity to show them clean administration. TRUTH. “WHO’S WHO” Sir, — In last night's issue of The Sun a letter appeared over the signature of Mr A. J Hutchinson, criticising the four gentlemen offering themselves for the Mayoralty. I would like to draw thl attention of the electors to the inefficiency of the writer’s criticism. He Mr ’ * lur ray as “A member of the last council. Not seriouslv in the campaign.” If I am any judge, citizens of Auckland will find when the numbers go up that Mr. Murray Is very effectively m the campaign. Who is the man who has thrown light into the ° f ? Tbat F; Hutchinson terms ,® ta S 1 of Inefficiency, mess, and muddle. Why, the very man Cr Murray, who Mr. Hutchinson says is not seriously in the campaign ? Had if not been for Mr. Murray what would Mr. Hutchinson, or any other citizen have known of the inefficiency, mess and muddle in our civic administration. Had it not been for Mr. Murray’s persistent delving into “the wrongs that need resistance,** the busi-

ness men, to whom Mr. Hutchinson re- . would still have been slumbering m their shallow beds. Away with such camoufmgfe, sham and hypocrisy! Hoes Mr. Hutchinson imagine those outside what he terms “sound business men” are so dense as not to know that Cr. Murray has proved himself to be one of the soundest business men in this city, and deserves the support of every thoughtful elector on Wednesday? H. P. TAYLOR. CITY COUNCIL ELECTION Sir, — i I trust in the voting for the election of councillors for this city that the electors will strike out the names of every one of the old councillors who are standing for re-election. I consider that a great deal of the depression and unemployment in our city has been caused by the inert policy of the old council in dealing with civic questions. With 67 persons standing, it is difficult to know for whom to vote, but p , ut in entirely new men. Even if they have not had previous experience m council work, they cannot be worse than the party we have had in power for the past term. Let us make a clean sweep of all the dd councillors and take no notice of the various tickets, but pick out individually new men whom we mav consider worthy of our support, and who are likely to do real work for the good of our city. BUSINESS. THE INDEPENDENT ELEVEN Sir,— It has com© to our knowledge that ?. U V P^ mes have been included in a Association!* by the While we are deeply conscious of the 5° ne b y t he selectors of the ’Yh et - ' e . wish publicly to announce that the inclusion was made without our consent, and that the same does indicate that we are supporting the policy (if any) that may be sub tee q ol n th y t P r POUn<i - ed by the committhat association. We would point out that the ir. that lO we° f ar Ur names d °os not indicate are su PP°rting the Mavoral ?he ticket "' hOSe name alS ° spears on ar?r C e?aTnT„T?h e W ?„r p y “Independent Eleven,” and thlt ir.de pendence extends to the Mayoral oat G. LOVEGROVE W. T. SMITH. J. H. ANSELL. H C. FRASER. ISAAC G. GRAY. BALFOUR M. IRVIXE. This morning, Mr H To,-i dent of the United ’ (Continued i„ next column)

tion, said In reply to the disclaimer that there was no necessity to obtain the consent of anyone for inclusion in a ‘’ticket.'* If the association considered that the men were worthy of support, no consent was required. All the men who now said that they were retaining their independence in the “Independent Eleven” had been nominated for the association's ticket, which was, incidentally, the only full ticket in the elections. “In spite of this disclaimer,” Mr. Taylor said, “they have overlooked the fact that the whole of their platform is a portion of what Mr. W. H. Murray, Mr. J. R. Lund on and I have been engaged on for the past 18 months.” CRIME IN AMERICA Sir, Ten years ago I predicted a great increase of lawlessness in the United States as a result of National Prohibition. “Truth” featured ray forecast in a two-page cartoon, in which Uncle Sam, as Old Nick, was playing the devil with. American civilisation. While Prohibition is not the only factor of prevailing lawlessness in America, I think it is the greatest. “Only eight per cent, of the convictions for felony in 1928 came from that source,” we are told. But who knows that? If the Prohibition law has undermined respect for law and law-observance and lawenforcement in general, as I predicted it would, and maintain that it has. then, it must be held indirectly responsible for much felony* coming directly from other sources. And it almost goes without saying that the difficulties of obtaining conviction by jury for felony, resulting from such a questionable law as Prohibition, must be enormous. Hence, convictions for offences from this source are a poor criterion. In Portland, Oregon, and in Atlanta, Georgia, I had the honour of addressing conventions of the National W.C.T.U, My heartiest sympathies are with this noble body of women, and with the churches and all who are helping the President in his fight for the maintenance of law and order. While we may not be prohibitionists, our interests are so involved with those of America, that all parts of our Empire should cooperate with America for the suppression of crime. So long as the American Constitution requires such a large majority for its amendment, there is the danger of a minority imposing its will upon the majority. If the principle of majority rule is ever to obtain, it may be necessary for the representatives of the people to amend the constitution in this respect by a simple majority vote. Tills done. Prohibition may be dealt with in like manner. JUSTICE.