CANDID CRITICISM.

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19665, 27 August 1935, Page 9

CANDID CRITICISM.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Elections come and elections go. We never seem to make any headway towards a general improvement in our conditions of living. We hear of deficits, or balancing budgets, or work not being done because we have no money, etc. What are the functions of a Parliament or a civic authority? Surely, Sir, the main object of our authorities is the happiness and welfare of our people. It appears from a perusal of the annual accounts of cities that this objective Is far from the intelligence of these authorities. The accounts for the City of Auckland disclose a revenue of £950,829. The public debt stands at £7,407,110. The civic authorities seem to be agents for the financial people and the ratepayers are the winepress of the usurers. Hamilton pays away a huge sum every year for the same object. Are ooi r elected representatives fully aware of their duties to the citizens and burgesses? Prom one’s own observation there are three distinct duties of an elected council to the people: To the dead, to the living, and to the unborn. We remember the dead every Anzao Day, yet have our authorities kept faith with them? Nol Decidedly no. War pensions have been cut down. Our conditions are such to-day that If our deceased warriors were to return, trouble would be for the authorities. Have they kept faith with the living? Again the answer is No. With 50,000 "horse and foot going to Table Bay”— T beg pardon, 50,000 relief workers and dependents, in a country more wealthy than ever In its history; New Zealand also being almost the highest taxed country in the world. Certainly this duty has been neglected. Finally, the duty to the unborn. We give a couple of minutes’ silence to the dead once a year, but we never think of the unborn. All we do is to load posterity with debt. Figures have already been published in your columns—what the Auckland burden is lo 1964, Hamilton has gone to 1903. Can we, either as elected representatives of elector's, claim that we have thought of our duty or kept faith in the light of present-day conditions? Many penalties are attached to wilfully wrong actions in connection with voting, etc., but what of the dereliction of duty by those responsible for the happiness and welfare of our citizens? The Mayor of Hamilton at a public function recently stated that we think 100 much of trivialities like wheel-barrow-pushing and very little of serious matters. It would be interesting to examine how far our present council has considered the carryingout of their duties and responsibilities to the burgesses of Hamilton. —I am MARCUS JAMES. Hamilton, August 24, 1935.