LABOUR CANDIDATES ADDRESS ELECTORS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19236, 25 November 1930, Page 5

LABOUR CANDIDATES ADDRESS ELECTORS.

DISAGREE WITH PRESENT ADMINISTRATION POLICY. ’ Labour candidates for the Tramway Board election on Thursday gave addresses last night. The present board and its predecessors came in for much criticism for increases in fares and their alleged inability to manage the tramways properly. It was complained that pin-pricking tactics by officers had robbed the service of that spirit of co-operation among the servants which was so essential to success in a publicly owned undertaking. Making of the tramway services more popular was generally favoured, and it was stated that increased traffic would follow in the wake of a reduction in fares. The candidates were all given a good hearing, and in several cases motions of confidence were passed. , Mr J. M’Combs—who, along with Messrs George Manning, R. M. Macfarlane, A. 11. Scales and P. C. Webb—is a candidate for the central sub-district, addressed several meetings. Messrs M’Combs, Scales and Manning spoke at the corner of Hargood Street and Ferry Road; Messrs Webb, Manning and Macfarlane at the corner of Charles and Grafton Streets; Messrs Scales, Macfarlane and Webb at Huxley and. Montrose Streets; and Messrs G. T. Thurston and M’Combs at Church Square, Addington. ’ Mr Thurston's Address. Mr Thurston, who is the Labour candidate for the Spreydon-Addington subdistrict, stated that Labour was contesting the election because it disagreed with the policy of the present administration. tie declared that if the present policy were maintained the whole area would have to face the levying of a rate, to which Labour was opposed. During the present board’s term of office, fares had been increased, and customers had thereby decreased, and a loss of £12,000 was the result of that and other experiments. Labour believed that, as the tramways were publicly owned, they should be publicly run. The Labour candidates, who had a feeling in common with the servants of publicly owned services, were the proper ones to be in control. In reply to questions, Mr Thurston said that he could not say that it would be advisable to do away with the oneman trams, which certainly deprived some men of employment. Mr M’Combs’s Criticism. In his address at Addington, Mr M’Combs stated that it was admitted that the tramway problem in Christchurch was a difficult one, but the difficulty was mainly of the board’s making. Christchurch, with its flat country, except for Cashmere Hills, had the lowest operating costs. The board, by increasing fares, had lost 342,000 passengers. That was a. foolish and mistaken policy. Christchurch was the only centre where there was stagnation in the tramway system. The board, in the last ten years, had lost over a million passengers through mismanagement. At the same time the board had increased its costs by 65 per cent. In answer to questions, Mr M’Combs said that, if Labour went into power and reduced the fares, it would probably result in more men being employed. Labour was in favour of the retenton of tramway shelters in the Square.