FOULING HIS NEST.

Observer, Volume XXVII, Issue 47, 10 August 1907, Page 3

FOULING HIS NEST.

C. H. Poole and the Auckland Tramways.

THOSE enlightened electors of City West who supported the candidature of C. JH. Foole at last general election, must be at present regarding the Parliamentary sayings of their member with somewhat mixed feelings. Mr Poole may mean well. The questions which he has asked in Parliament with reference to the Auckland tramway service may have been dictated by a sense of public duty, but the fact remains that these questions were not only out of place in the House, but were also based upon suppositions which were pure fallacies. Moreover, in asking them, Mr Poole has given people some justification for believing that he is an adherent to what has been termed by irreverent persons "the stinking fish policy."

In reply to Mr Pocle's questions, it was conclusively proved by the Hon. James McGowan that the Government had no control over the actual running of the tramways. A qualified officer of the Public Works Department had certified that the rolling stock was efficient y and complied with the necessary conditions. There the jurisdiction of the Government ended. Had Mr Poole taken the trouble' to

make sure of the grounds that he was N standing, on before he spoke, he would probably not have been so anxious to immolate himself upon the altar of supposed public duty. The only results of his ill-advised action have been that he has covered himself with ridicule, and that he has given southern members yet another excuse for holding Auckland up to v the rest of the House as the backslider among the chief citiep. Southern members are always eager to get a chance of this kind, and Mr Poole is apparently bent upon playing into their hands.

It is a peculiar fact that Prohibitionists, generally speaking, have a tendency for making wild, misleading and unjustifiable statements. Mr Poole is no exception. He states that the brake power is poor, and inferior to either the magnetic or vacuum systems. Mr Poole may be a very good seaman, but we have yet to learn that he is an authority on tramway brakes. Mr McGowan effectually showed the fallacy of Mr Poole's statements by pointing out that the brakes used in Auckland are not only auperior to the vacuum and magnetic brakes, but are the most efficient and reliable of any in the colony, and there can be no doubt that Mn McGowan derived his information from an authoritative and reliable source. Mr Poole's statements were unsupported by one single shred of evidence, while Mr McGowan had all the weight of the Public Works Department to support his contentions. The inference is obvious to any unbiassed person.

Mr Poole made further wild statements to the effect that the strvice was inefficient and dangerous. Here again he brought forward no facts to support his contentions beyond saying that numerous accidents had occurred. The same thing will happen even with the best service in the world. Nobody contends that the Auckland tramway system is perfect, and we have no reason to believe that either the Wellington, Chrißtchurch, or Dunedin systems are perfect, either. Is Auckland the only place where tram accidents occur ? Mr Poole went on to say that the cars should be provided with glass fronts, because the motormen have to face " hail, rain, dust and snow," for which latter word he afterwards substituted " sleet." How often is sleet experienced in Auckland ? It is for making ridiculous assertions such as these that Mr C. H. Poole is receiving £300 a-year.

But the whole thing was ridiculous. The matter should never have been brought before the House at all. We do not know whether Mr Poole was seeking cheap notoriety or whether he imagined he was working for the public welfare. We may give him the benefit of the doubt and put it down to the latter cause. In any case, he took his grievances to the wrong place ; he supported them by statements which were proved to be fallacies ; and he did no good, but a vast amount of harm, which will probably, bear fruit later on. If he were to devote his time and energies in the direction of ameliorating some of the injustices under which Auckland is suffering in matters over which the Government has direct control, he would perhaps succeed in justifying, his election. So far,' he has failed to do so.