MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14424, 21 April 1911, Page 3

MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

MORE SPEECHES. AT THE TECHNICAL SCHOOL. Messrs S. Horroll, V. B. Hawkey, ami T. Corlett,. candidates for municipal honours, addressed a meeting of 'tho electors in tlio Technical Scliool last evening. There were thirty present, and Councillor \V. A. Pearson occupied the chair, lihc briefly introduced the candidates, bespoke for them a patient hearing, and said tliev would bo pleased to answer questions at the close of their addresses. MR.CORLETT.

Mr Corlett was the first speaker, lie said he was out as a representative of tlio outer area, and thanked theso who had arranged this nicotine;. lie considered it the duty of every candidate to state his views, ,so that the ratepayers would he able to judge them before voting. Although three of them "were to speak that night, they were not in any way combined on any particular "ticket." Mr Corlett expressed his satisfaction with the broadened franchise and with the ;enthusiasm thrown into this election, especially hy the workers. In coming forward as a candidate, his reason was that the outer streets had not had sufficient attention. Be also thought that the present Council did not work as harmoniously as it should do; and in this connection lie did not hold the Mayor blameless. Tn connection with the recent petition for a polling booth on the wharf, lie had dealt with it in a manner which lacked common courtesy. The petition came from 'l5O ratepayers, and it should have heeu handed on to the returning officer. Referring to the drainage scheme for tho outer area, the candidate said the work should not he rushed ; the worst Darts should bo done first, and day labour should he given a trial. The raonoy should not be all raised at once, but simply as required. Mr Marchant had not given satisfaction with the original drainage scheme, and he (tho speaker) was pleased that the drainage of the new area would he done under the supervision of the Council's on- i giuecr. _ Touching tramways, Mr Cor- I lett said that all information should bo got, bv the new Council as soon as possible. For himself, he favoured the Dunedin system. In Capetown they had tramways worked by a compressed air system, hut he could not give :mv details of this system. £IO,OOO was to be borrowed for street improvement, mid this work should ho gone on with immediately. There was no question hut th.vt the trams were coming, and the streets on which the trams would run should be attended to j first. Regarding the metalling of i streets, he was not in favour of the I present system of road-making. There J was a good supply of metal in the Gloniti quarries owned bv the Harbour ■Board, and the Council could very well arrange with the Harbour "Board to get supplies. If they had had keen business men on the Council in the past, this would have heen done long ago. The metal could ho landed in the borough at about 2s a yard (when the Board was using the' quarries). Tf t!,e Council had a crusher thev could crush their own metal for about-Is 3d n yard, and many hundreds of pounds could be saved hy dealing with the supply in this way. He characterised as absurd, tho proposal of the Councl to put abattoir shingle on ■ the main X.orih road, carting it a mile, when they had a quarry close at hand. It was false economy. AY bite street, ho said, had also heen dealt with in an absurd way. Coining to Caroline Bay. ■Corlett sa-'d no more morev ~hou!<l be borrowed to spend on tho Bay. More bathing machines should bo provdod," and nil money scent there in future should come out of revenue. The Mayor said there was a possihiii'.v of reducing tb-3 rates, but lie failed to see how'tlrs was going to'be dime. He believed' that to drain the outer

a:-e was ga : itg io cost at least f.--.0 OiT)0. Ti>- ercct-on eV a ilieap- c should be left to private enterprise. If ihey wanted to provide recreation they should ere::i hot" salt water baths. In Chiistehurclt he believed thev were paying 200 p-r cent. Regarding the reeioyal of rubbsh from the town, be r-v-prcd tb- erecrTbn of a destructor. | eetii that was .done the "rubbish :-, ! night soil should be carted on ■■ :':• log stl-cl-hof s-.prl by the Oli■e lagoon. The OrcJ Reserve was a .-'.verriee and should be put in order so that it eoitkl be used by, snorts clubs. It would nay the Council to spend £.', m on this reserve. The interest would lie t:'2-l a year and the sports eiub- would readily find that amount. (Applause.) . " MR HORRELL. Mr Horreli then expounded his views. He sad lhat he had no reason to apologise for offering himself at-this election. He' came to Timaru in September last and bought a home here, lie had nothing to do and wished tn | get something to do for the good of the town. He came from a family the members of which all served on local bodies. He was a Canterbury

pilgrim, and had known Timaru for a long time, but it still wanted good men at the front. He did not know much about details, not having been here long enough, but he bad a good idea of what was required. Timaru was the centre of a large agricultural centre and a most important place. It was an ideal pleasure resort, and in time to come it w-as going to be a great residential place. It was to be lamented that it lacked industries, hut it had a good climate , a good harbour, and would be more of a residential than a commercial place. There was no need to dwell on the drainage question. He was well pleased that ail the loans had been carried on AYednesday last, and it showed that the people had good sense, and could well do without his advice. Good footpaths were needed in Timaru. There were a nice lot of young ladies m Timaru and it was a" pitv that they should have to walk with pebbles crunching under their feet. If elected it would be for Timaru as a whole — not for the outer area in particular. As regards ihe Bay he thought they should not say too much. He had one or two hobbies about the . Bay but would bide his time for them. £4OO or £SOO a year should be spent on the Bay. There was a wealth of money there, far more than most people imagined. Not another inch of the sand should be taken away. He differed from the worthy editor of the "Timaru Herald" in suggesting that a shed should lie erected on the Bay. He (the speaker) objected to the word "shed". Any building they put up there should !>e "as artistic as they could make it. Thev should go on doing something nil the time, find hy and by th«y ; would get lots of gifts coming for it. Touching tramways Mr Horrell said lUev would do a great deal of coed to . Timaru. His wife said that if he did ■ not e-o for trams she would not vote for him. (Laughter.) But he knew i the trams would not pay for some time, so they should pot go in for them vet. for if thev did they would cripple the Council financially.' All the data i should be collected, and until ho could I =ee that they would pay he would not, . cote for them. Coming to the theatre question, he thought this was a. sle.ep-in-r dog which would rouse up ae-ain if the new Council kicked it. If the theatre was bad three months ago it v,- n = b.-d still, and if the Council could do nothing else thev should condemn it and let a theatre worthy of the town be erected. Mr Hnrrr-il said he thought he had said re -'.. end if ..footed be weld d-vnte all bis time to the service of th" hnroue-h. havH" airend" killed t'.e twitch in his paddock. .(Laughter and applause.)

QUESTIONS.' . 11l reply to Mr (!. AYriglit, Mr Corlett said lu> would he in favour of acquiring tho electric light from Scott Bros. Mr Horroll said ho did not know much about tho matter, hut was inclined to think the Council should own tlie- electric light as soon as possible, and tho gas too, if possible. In reply to another question both candidates said they would be in favour of properly naming tho streets and numbering tho houses. Mr Horrell oonipkiinod too of tho. queer way the streets of Tiiuaru were laid out. it seemed to him that the. place had' been cut up and roaded bv speculators. In rei.lv to Mr Hall, Mr Corlett expressed himself as being in favour of rating on unimproved values. .

Mr Horroll said the question savoured rather much of politics. lie looked upon rating on unimproved values, as robbing Peter to pay Paul. He knew it was supposed to stop speculation, but he did not think it would do it. In reply to another question, tlio candidates said thev would be iu favour of removing the back-shunt for the Harbour Board engine on Otipna road. It was a nuisance and a source of danger. In reply to Mr King, Mr Corlett said ho would' have been ill favour of doing all the drainage in the street. and allowing tho householder £lO for the drainage on his own section ; but the loan- had been raised on the understanding that tho £lO must include the drainage to the centre of the road. ,-md this being so they could not depart from it. Mr Horroll expressed a similar view, and said that if they altered the basis of payment now, tho outer area residents' would get an advantage which was not enjoyed by those in the inner

MR HAAYKFA". At 20 minutes past 0 Mr IT. B. Hawkey arrived, the meeting haying been kept going specially until his arrival, by the asking of questions. Mr Hawkey said he had been advertised to speak that night without knowing anything about it until 7 o c'.oeii that evening. Ilowov.r, he had jotted : down one or 'two things and would , make the best tut he could of it. H<" was in accord with Messrs Horrell and Corlett in endeavouring to get representation on tire Council for the outside area. They must, so? that they , got a fair.share of the expenditure in th" now:area. He was an independent, under no body's wing, and would not therefore put any definite platform ■ before them. He could trot out a platform, but would only have one chance in twelve of carrying it out, if elected. He would advocate no wild cat schemes, and lis had no fault to hud with,the okl Council; nor could he claim any better ideas than, they had put forth. They had worked unMdeshiy for the borough., and it would be hard, to : ee them put out, but stMI 't was necessity that the new area should In vs representation on the Council. If fleeted h-s "would not be one to stand up for expenditure at his own front door, but would look after the outer area in general. He tviu certainly in favour of tramways: it was only natural that .he should' be seeing that be bad a property on Otipna road. The trams should extend well put and so increase settlement there. On the qucst : o:i of day labour versus contract, be would not be iii favour of day labour if it were a ease of the survival of the fittest. If it meant putting old men off who bad served the'r day and generation well he would oppose it. He Was opposed to anv increase iii the rates: 3s 4d in the £ was |U : tenough. He favoured putting metal' ; on the sti-ets instead of s-hingle wlvrorver no-s'ble. The ouest : nn -of a municipal theatre should he.dee : d?d by the people, but it should not be made a test question at tile election. It wis only a side question and it would bo i absurd to vote against a mail s'mply : because be was not in favour "of" a ; municipal -.theatre. Mr Kawkey -ipolo- ', g'seel for not being able to say more, I but lie bnd up notice of the .meeting, '■ and no time to prepare or th.nl: over •' a speech. i l.i reply, to Mr King Mr Hawkey ; sa:d be would carry out the drainage ,in the outer area by contract. He . knew no re.eon why the present system should be altered.

.u ri-.j;:y to another question the enndejate said lie would not advocate a o,innge in the present system of water charges so as to make the charges un - - torm lor houses of the same siire. He won Id put his trust in the experts who fixed charges, but if ho lost confidence in them ho would advocate their dismissal. (Applause.) He would be in favour of abolishing the 30s charge for talcing water across the footpath to a householder's fence.

No mere questions offering, a hearty vote or thanks and confidence was passed to the candidates, on the motion of Messrs AArtght and H. Prin.r o'cTock meet " ,S ° lo - ed Sll ° rtly b = fore 10

LABOUR CANTO-DATES AT CULLMANNTOAVN..

| Over fifty electors gathered in the . Culimanntown Hall last, evening w hen , Messrs G-. Koller J. Donaldson, P. Coates, and G. Bicknell, Labour Party ! candidates, gave addresses. Mr G R ■ Joyce was chairman. , Tho candidates, in the course of I then- addresses, traversed to a large | extent the ground covered at the me»t- ■■ nig at A\ aimataitai, and Mr Bicknell . dealt with the plank in the platform . proyidmg for tho paying off of loans tin 21 years. The Party advocated, i he said tuat loans for works should be wiped out before the work it was got for was worn out, This was in fairness to posterity. Mr Koller, during a lengthy address, said the contract system was immoral m principle,- and that day labour was cheaper and better. The experience of : the Education Board and tho Metro- ; politan Board of Sydney proved this; i the latter had made a saving of 2} per 1 cent, by adopting day labour, j Replying to a question by Mr i O'Hagan, Mr Koller said that he would ■ advocate the averago man gotting a living wage, the superior man getting a superior wage, and the inferior man being paid according to his ability, his I living wage to bo made up some other | way. He would give the borough en- . gineer absolute control of the Council ; workmen, and would favour the an- [ pointment of an appeal board for uhe hearing of any complaints. Replying to Mr Loeming's assertion that a certain Harbour Board job men were paid'ss 10<I per <Li-, Mr Koller saij Ira .would not support anv ; "measly arrangement" where? 5.s 10s or eve:: 8s a day was offered iron. In reply . to other questions, Mr TCdier sa'd •tho Arbitratvm Court fixed a min'mu-.u wane, not the maximum as empioy.--"= made it: that he beleved n workman's : superior strength and skdl shook! be 'recognised: and that he would favour ja Bornimli Superannuation Tionrd j A unanimous vote of thanks was ac- ; corded the speakers and the chatr- ; man. j TEMTJKA. Messrs T. Buxton ("present Mayor) and .T. T. M. Havhurst (a farmer Mayorf are cendidatcs for the Mayoralty for the Borough Council. There c-e 22 c.aud-de+es. namely, Mos~--s Henw Bell ,T. AY. Boulter. A. H ' iVt'V H. A. B. llnyiM. -Tas. 'Day's j" T Wis. AY. F. Fe-nns. Alex. Fr-w T Ounnion. fl. H.-n-cx. .T„ 0 . H n j, ve !|' t. .t. -u, ; ;„„. „ M „..,.- n H V o„ aI ,!;,;' -p M: .r.,-;i,-. p,. j!>■■.„„-■:. c. J. M„: £»v -Tes. Mol>or, AY. Tarrant. AY. "'"»■'* Jno. Washington, and -\ C , AYatsoa. ' ' " 1

AKIIISVHTO.V. -Mr Tlenrv Davis was reelect: d Mayor of Ashbuiton unopposed for the eighth year in succession. There are tlio Council.