TO IMPROVE THE CITY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1436, 10 May 1912, Page 7

TO IMPROVE THE CITY.

MR. TREGEAR'S SCHEMES. CITY COUNCIL BY-ELECTION. Mr 13. Tregear, the candidate nominated by the Labour party for the vacant, scat Oil the City Council, opened his campaign in St. Paul's Schoolroom last night. Tho Mayor (Mr. D. M'Laron) was voted to tho In view of the fact that'there was only u snnll audience, and (ho further fact that ho was suffering from a cold, Mr. Tie-ear 'decided to deliver only a short address. Hi' Hl 'd that in his fifty years' 've-idenco in JSw Zealand he had never been a candidate for any public, office. Ho hoped he would not bo rejected on account of his extreme youth in municipal matters. Ho had something to do with politics in tho country, but ho had had to do it as a Government servant, and not as a' political exponent of the peoplo's views. Mo would liko to see Wellington In tho future one, of the most beautiful places in New Zealand, as it had the potenev of becoming, but which it certainly was not now. Financially it would be his effort to mako the tramways pay, looked at from the point of new of efficiency and good management, but it might, bo that tho cars, which wcro rim fok the benefit of tho people could bo allowed to go on paving expenses merely. It seemed to him that there was room for improvement in the design of some of our cars, especially those of which Hie stops wero bo high 'as to bo easily-negotiable wily by j'oung athletes. . There was room also for improvement in the cleaning of tho footpaths; the roadways wee kept tolerably clean, but not tho sidewalks. Tie would like to see the water supply svstem completed, so that thoro should bean abundance of water for domestic use, and also lor use in gardens to assist in making the place beautiful, 'lie would like to see moro public baths established—nut only salt-water swimming Whs, but fresh-water swimming baths. •Ho would also like to see bath-houses built in congested parts of the town where thorn were hundreds of houses without bathrooms. 'Die council might ''also provide facilities in these areas for Ijieoplo to get hot water, as one could m ilondou and other progressive cities. So.uo more should be done to make this Scitv beautiful. In Oliver towns in New Zealand there were associations of citizens banded together to beautify vacant ■places in the city. Some of Iho vacant, •.places owned by the city were littered 'up with all kinds of rubbish. Tins (should not bo permitted; it would cost i comparatively little to make these areas into gardens. He thought markets were essential in ■Wellington. It was necessary that something should b;i douo to frustrate the operations of rings and trusts. Just as the Government had entered into competition with private traders in regard to firo insurance and coal, lie did not see why the municipality should not have its own bakeries, its own fisheries, and its own butcheries, not to destroy private enterprise, but by competition to keep rings and trusts from getting in (heir deadly work. These need not be a source of expense to (ho city, but rather of proiit. Ho favoured, some" schemo of town-plan-ning, and the establishment of a townplanning board. .The Government schemes for better housing.of workers, he had been partly responsible for, and he believed that the city should in the same way uuclortake a'housing scheme. He. would like to see reading rooms established in the suburbs; it was no use to a man in a distant suburb to have good reading rooms in the centre of the city and in Newtown. He also thought the eity might set up lodging houses for homeless men and women, so that (hoy might ba cpared the degradation and wretchedness of sleeping out. In conclusion, he repudiated the reproach that he was a firebrand or a spondfchrift. His own life ill Wellington showed that he was nothing of the sort. Ho was tho nominee of the United Labour party. This did not mean that he represented the labourers only. The Labour party embraced all workers, professional men included—all the useful peo-! pie as opposed to the shirkers. '."'■'• , A vote of eonfkleucc in Jlr. Tregear was carried unanimously.