THE MAYORALTY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 471, 1 April 1909, Page 8

THE MAYORALTY.

« SPEECH BY DR. NEWMAN. A SUCCESSFUL MEETING. Dr. A. K. Nowman oponed Lis campaign as a candidate for tlio City Mayoralty at a largely attonded meeting in tho Municipal Council Chambor last night. Mr. A. L. Hcrdman, M.P., who presided, alluded to tbo candidate's previous experionco in public life,. as a member of Parliament, the City Council, and other bodies. Dr. Newman had always taken an active intorest in tho affairs of the country and tho city, and there was no citizen of Wei- ■ lington at the present time who was bettor qualified for the high position of Mayor. A Clean Campaign. Dr. Newman, who was received with applause, said ho intended to carry on the campaign in a clean manner. He had had a talk, with Mr. .Fisher that morning, and they had both agreed that thero was to be no mud-slinging. (Applauso.) There were, of courso,, too many candidates, but as commonsense people the electors should chooso the least of soveral evils, by voting for him, and pushing the others out of the window. (Laughter and applause.) Ho was glad to see so many ladies present, as ho was a strong believer in women having tho vote. Sir John t Hall had called him his lieutenant in the fight for the women's franchise. City politics wero of great importance to women, ,and they ought to find the reports of the council as interesting to read as that Mrs. Smith gave a beautiful afternoon tea, and wore a pink dress and a grey skirt trimmed with Indian tracery. '(Laughter.) His Public Rccord, ' He served on the City Council for three years, and was a member of the Finance Committee which at that time did much to straighten out tho city's finances. Ho was a member of tbo Education Board for many years; also of the College Governors, tho Girls' High School, and the Hospital Trusts ces. He occupied for some years a seat in Parliament, and. had been a trustee of a number of institutions. He had long studied tho modern science of mnnicipal politics. Reforms Needed. Municipal government ,in New Zealand was generally good, but there was sometimes too much wire-pulling. Ho intended to set his face against all that sort of thing. It would be well to set up a good committee of tho City Council to deal with all applicants, and anyone discharged should have no. backstairs method of getting reinstated. A man discharged by a foreman would bo able to appeal to the committee. Competence should bo tho test for employment, and votes an applicant .could control should never bo considered. (Applause.) As a candidate for.the City Council some, years ago, ho advocated a sewerage system, improved trams, and other things. We had those things now, and the task was ■ i P ,^ hem going on sound and efficient lines. Tho present was a time of retrenchment, and if ho were;elected, there would be no lavish borrowing schemes. Finances. The' City's finances were fairiv satisfactory, but there was no money to play with. He had gone into the papers and found that • there were no unexpended balances of loans, j/u I ?Tr W i a3 a authorised for the Wadestown tramway, and that was about all the council would have to spend during the coming year. .It was of the utmost importance that tho rates should not go up any higher. (Applause.) It was true that the rates had not gono up during late years, but the amount oollected had groatly increased owing to'. the valuations being raised. The only thing the council could boast of in the way of rate reduction was . t 2?*, a halfpenny m tho £ had been taken ott the library rate.,: r |, i;

' No New Loan. ' The revenue'was £250,000 a year, and the expenditure was very close to it. If the revenue were allowed to fall away, there would have to be a rise in rates. That must bo prevented if possible. The cost of living was already higher than anywhere else in the Dominion. This caused people who reared on small incomes to leave the place. He did not see any necessity for a new loan during the year, and it should be'the first and cardinal aim of the new Mayor and councillors to keep expenditure within bounds.- -'.He,'did- not see any need to cut down salaries or reduce the services given to the people, but they must be careful to keep down the rates. (Applause.) The tramways, which had • cost • us half a million of money, .were well -officered, manned, and run, hot it would be just about touch and 8° whether::tL'ey would pay for interest, sinking fund; and working expenses on the closing year. They should be run on business methods, providing amply for depreciation, paying for the cars, and putting by for an accident fund. The costs of such accidents as the Brooklyn one should not have to come out of rates. If handled properly as th'dy Were, the trams should, after a fewyears, pay much .better than at present. He was fully convinced'that it was right'for the > municipality to own the trams. The idea that • private people should do all that was proi Stable, and the municipal authorities should undertako only the. unprofitable work, was ' now quite out of dato. (Applause.) > Dirty Streets. [ Our streets were abominably dirty, and he would like to get rid of the quantities of dirt that were always blowing about. It should be taken up by machinery, and he would liko to spend £3000 on this work. We : had the finest . system of sewerage in the - world, and our back' yards were kept clean, but the dirt was left to blow about the " stieets and annoy visitors and citizens, and injure health.' Our food was good, and our , death-rate was low, but our infantile deathrate last year was the highest in the Do- > minion. He wanted to bring it down. • Tho Milk Question. Many of the diseases of children were due r to tainted milk. Tho City Council's milk y scheme, however, would cost £20,000 to start y it, and £7500 a, year to keep it up. Clean milk could be got by a much less expensive scheme, which he would advocate. The milk should be taken clean from the cow and put at once into bottles for delivery. This was 1 done successfully in other countries, the bottles being made of paper, and costing a fa.rthing or a halfpenny apiece. This was the scheme of the.future. There would be lio' depots , with big vats in the city, but inspectors would go to the farms and see that tho bottiing was done in <a proper hygienic manner. To Beautify the City. Wellington bad tho most beautiful scenery of any city in Australasia, but something " should be done_ to cover the bare hillsides and cuttings with flowering plants, and pcoplo should learn that thero were beautiful ~ trees outside tho monotonous funereal pinus insiguis and niacrocarpa. They should make I a. start with Mount Victoria, doing a little ? a,t a timo, planting and making paths. The spreading out of the city, especially in tht direction of Kilbirnio; and Miramar, made ii desirable to cut a wide tunnel through tin '? hill to Kilbirnie, and this should bo kept ii view as a comprehensive schomo for th< futuro, Thoro was going to bo a large residential city on tho far side of that liill le The loan for the recreation grounds wa: si- carried so long ago that they had a right t< bo annoyed when they learnt that only on< re of them would shortly bo available for play so It was most desirable that thero should bi ■'" ample recreatioSi grounds for our young inei m and lads. (Apphfuso.) His Policy In Brief. In conclusion, Dr. Newman said, by wa; n- of summary, that: — :e ' Tho city should bo made moro beautiful, and "tho streets cleaner. lU " Thoro should bo no moro loans for a ' considerable time. ■ er Groat economy should bo exercised, jj political "pull" abolished, and an appeal boaxd set up.

Mount Victoria should be planted, and I tho recreation grounds hurried on. i A good milk supply should bo assured. i The housing of the poor would noed 1 , consideration, and the unemployed diffiI culty could perhaps be lightoned by : united action on tho part of tho Government, tho City Council, and tho Har- ' bour Board, and work might bo spread moro evenly over tho year. j Tho citizens should realise tho dignity and 1 importance of municipal government, and chooso tho best men they could to carry it on. (Applause.) j Questions. In reply to questions, Dr. Nowman said that, if elected, ho would endeavour to have houses that wero condemned pulled down, without delay. _ Ho was not in favour of municipalisation of the drink traffic. Thanks and Confidence. Mr. Shallcrass moved a vote of thanks and confidence. This was seconded by Mr. Neave, and carried unanimously.