LABOUR CAMPAIGN.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18865, 1 May 1931, Page 2

LABOUR CAMPAIGN.

MR VINNELL’S CANDIDATURE. ADDRESS AT SOUTH SCHOOL. Notwithstanding the cold evening, between fifty and sixty electors assembled in the South School last evening to hear an address by Mr P. V. Vinnell in support of his candidature for the Timaru Mayoralty. The chair was occupied by Mr W. J. Dickson, who introduced the candidate, who, he said, would give a resume of the policy he would advocate if elected Mayor.

At the outset of his address Mr Vinnell said it gave him great pleasure to have the opportunity of speaking to the ratepayers of the South End in support of his candidature for the Mayoralty. First of all, he desired to say that he hoped to be able to place before them sufficient reasons why they should record their votes for the Labour candidates seeking election to the Council. They were all supporting the game policy as he was. The present were very depressing times, not only In Timaru, not only In New Zealand, but throughout the world. They were confronted with the problem of unemployment; many people were on the very verge of starvation, and there were business men who were almost bankrupt. They did not know from week to week whether they would not also be among the unemployed. It was quite easy some little time ago to refer to the unemployed as the men who never did well. That time was past, and they were now faced with a great problem which should occupy the attention of every right-thinking man and woman. With respect to the question of unemployment, he did not want It to be understood that during this campaign he was out to exploit those out of work for the purpose of securing votes. Such was not his intention. He would put before them what he regarded as a reasonable policy, and it was for them to say whether they would support such a policy. He was not putting forward that policy for the purpose of vote-catching, either from the unemployed or anyone else. Mr Vinnell said he hoped his policy would be in the interests of the general public and of the unemployed. It was necessary In the present times that all the money raised by taxation or rates should be spent In a manner whereby the people would reap the full results of such expenditure. He did not think the present times warranted a candidate coming before the electors and making extravagant proposals, and so far as he was concerned he would not do so. He would put forward reasonable rather than extravagant proposals, which could not be carried out, because it would be trying to do the impossible. Coming to the matter of the public works of the borough, the candidate said that they would have observed that the present administration claimed that they had a surplus of‘ £4409 at the end of the financial year. He submitted that for the Council to claim to have a surplus of £4409 as at March 31st, was not a good reason why the ratepayers should regard those people as being competent and deserving of a renewal of their confidence. It did seem that when there were so many unemployed in the town, if there was money to spare, it should be used to give those people some occupation to help them along. He did not desire to be misunderstood in this connection, because he believed that the Council had done good work for the unemployed, but no Council could solve the unemployed problem. It was a national question, and must be solved. He did say, however, that when they, had a Council suggesting the raising of loans for works when they had a credit balance, this was not a sound policy. The Timaru Borough Council had put forward a suggestion for the raising a loan of £4500 for the purpose of reticulation and laying down water mains in the town. To his mind a policy such as that, when the Borough was getting a large amount of money from the water department, was not a sound one. It seemed to him that it would be better for the Borough Council to use the money in hand, rather than borrow money for this purpose and pay it back over a long period of years with added charges. At the last election the Mayor said that the average indebtedness spread over the 3500 ratepayers in the town was £l3O per head. He put that forward as the reason why they should stop adding to the burden and carrying out a particular policy. He did not know if the adding of £12,000 had added to the £l3O per head of indebtedness to the 3500 ratepayers, or whether the Council had a policy which showed that the more they spent the lesser became their indebtedness, but that was how it appeared to him. Quite a lot of money was borrowed to help the unemployed, and £IBOO had been borrowed for sanitary work, which in his opinion could have been done out of revenue rather than out of loan money. Mr Vinnell said that he had been privileged to be chairman of the Works Committee of the last Council, and he was not new to municipal work, because he had served as a member of the Council for seven years. He had stood at every election ever since coming to the town, and he had been prominent before the public so far as public life was concerned. In connection with the ordinary work of the Council, what he suggested was that the new Council should go into the question of asking the engineer to draw up a comprehensive plan of works covering a period of years, and taking in detail the work requiring to be done in the borough. The Council could go into this and arrange to have a portion of such plan carried out during their two years of office. The effect of this would be that instead of succeeding Councils running counter to one another, there would be a clearcut scheme for carrying on a definitely constructive policy and a comprehensive plan on which to work, similar to that in operation in Christchurch. With such a policy in connection with the public works, and other utilities, the Council would be able to consider the whole programme, and decide which of the works were most urgently needed to be carried. This would be preferable to having to give fresh consideration to such matters every twelve months. Further, he believed that the ordinary work of the borough should be carried out, out of revenue, rather than by going to the ratepayers to get money by way of loan. Reverting to the question of unemployment, Mr Vinnell said that if elected he could be relied upon to give consideration to every proposal put before the Council. He would support every practical proposition submitted In the interest of the unemployed. He desired to say that unemployment was no passing phenomena. It was a feature of our present society. It was their duty to do all they possibly could to help the unemployed. The Labour Party count be depended to do all in their power to assist the unemployed. The problem was so large that It required the attention and co-operation of all members of the Council and of everyone who would come forward and give practical help to alter the present position. He would support every proposal having a tendency to help those men who unfortunately were on the unemployed list. He considered this problem sufficiently large to warrant the setting up of a department especially to deal with unemployment. Mr

Vinnell said that in cases where the unemployed were engaged to do work which would have to be done in the ordinary course by men permanently employed by the Council they were entitled and should be paid the ordinary rate of wage, otherwise it would be a case of taking advantage of men who W'ere defenceless, and who could not stand up for themselves. With reference to work of a relief nature, it so happened that there were men of various occupations who in many instances were not accustomed to the class of work offered to assist them in their predicament, and an unemployment department would be able to attend to such a special organisation. There might not be money available from the fund created for the unemployed throughout the country, and then he believed it would be necessary for the Borough Council to strike a rate in order to get money with which to find work for these unfortunate people. If they could get the money from the fund so much the better, and if elected he would do all in his power to make an honest endeavour to solve this problem so far as the town was concerned.

Dealing with the borough trading departments, Mr Vinnell said that the Electricity Department had made a good profit and had quite a considerable surplus. He desired to protest against the methods adopted in connection with this department. He did not agree with the system of running trading undertakings for the purpose of making profits, which were put into the general fund and gave relief to certain people to the extent of a certain amount of rates. Some of them were consumers and ratepayers, but If only consumers they were being taxed more than they should be, and the ratepaying consumers were paying more than their share of rates compared with some other people. A householder who was a consumer, under the present arrangement, helped to pay the rates of a man owning three or four horses. He supported the view that after making provision for sinking fund and renewals, the profits should go back into the business for Improving it, or as an alternative the charges for current should be reduced so as to make it better for those using electricity. It elected he would go for cheaper electricity. In respect to the water department, some of their friends claimed that the water system was the finest in the country, but he had heard the engineer say that he was not satisfied with the system. Mr Fox was an intelligent engineer, and he would not make such a statement unless he had knowledge to back up such a statement. Mr Vinnell advocated reduced water charges, and said that because the Council had a monopoly of the water supply they had no right to make charges which were not fair so far as the service rendered was concerned. If they made a profit on the water they had a right to use It In improving their service, and therefore he was not in favour of this money being transferred to the general fund, and for It to be proposed to borrow money for the purposes of reticulation.

The candidate advocated the Council having its own insurance scheme, just as other boroughs and cities had. He defended" the sanitary department, saying that he regarded it as the most important of the municipal departments. Viewing the present times, he said that the Council would have to economise wherever possible, just as In these days private individuals were not spending money unless it was absolutely essential. If elected, he would be most particular how money was spent for the next two or three years. By this he did not mean that he subscribed to a policy of cutting down works, but so far as works which were not necessary went, he could not see his way to support undertaking them. He took civic pride in the reserves owned by the Borough of Timaru, and took credit for getting the Council to raise a loan for the improvement of Maori Park. As the town grew, the borough would be like the cities in the Old Country, and the parks would be thought a great deal of, because they were right in the hearts of the people. (Applause). An Invitation to ask questions was responded to.

Mr Dewar asked the candidate if he was in favour of draining Saltwater Creek in the same way that the Walmataitai Creek had been done. Mr Vinnell replied that he would consider that proposal along with others, and if it was in the Interest of the town, then he would support it, but if he thought other proposals of greater interest to the town and to the unemployed, then he would give them preference. He did not agree that Saltwater Creek should be reclaimed and be used for the purpose of factory sites. A man who got on the platform and advocated reclaiming land for factory sites, or who advocates advertising in England or Australia to get business to come here, underestimated the intelligence of the people of this town.

Mr Koller asked If elected, and a proposal was made to take a vote of the ratepayers on the question of reverting to a system of rating on the capital value of land, how would the candidate vote? Mr Vinnell said he would vote for the retention of the present system. Replying to the Rev. Clyde Carr, M.P.. the candidate said that if elected he would do all in his power to assist in securing a Government subsidy for the South Canterbury Hospital Board to enable it to go on with and complete its present building scheme. Mr Morgan asked the candidate what his attitude was in regard to the matter of taking all precautions to have a pure milk supply for the town. Mr Vinnell said he was very much afraid that all precautions could not be taken unless the Council owned the whole supply, and he did not think the ratepayers could be persuaded at the present time to embark upon any scheme of this kind. He believed it would come some day, when people woke up to the fact that it was essential, but until this was possible he thought it better not to talk In platitudes. He would, of course, do all in his power to ensure that the interests of the people W'ere safe-guarded. Another question asked was what caused the water supply to be discoloured, seeing that there was a filter at the reservoir.

Mr Vinnell said this might be due to circumstances which he personally did not know of. The engineer did not regard the present system as being perfect so long as the water race was at present. He was prepared to ascertain what was at fault.

After answering the questions put forward, Mr Vinnell was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his comprehensive address by acclamation. A vote of thanks to the chairman for presiding concluded the meeting.