MR. LUKE'S FIRST ADDRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1718, 8 April 1913, Page 6

MR. LUKE'S FIRST ADDRESS.

CITY IMPROVEMENT. I WORKS DONE & SCHEMES IN PROSPECT, v. Mr. , J. P. Luke, who is contesting tho, .. Mayoralty against the.sitting Mayor (Mr. J). M'Laven) delivered his'first address , to cleotors in the Concert CHamber of the Town Hall lost nig-ht. It was a cold and 'stormy night, and there were only ahout /n'hundred people present, nearly all, of V. : .whom wero men. Mr.'D., Robertson prc- . widod.' ' ! The chairman said Mr .Luke was a man ,]in could recommend for the position to which he Was now aspiring. Mr. luko hnd'really earned tho honour,' for ho had ' pi veil so much to the people 'of Wellington already. He had been a councillor for 13 years; lie had been a liiember of .Parliament for three years; and lie liad_ been chairman of tho Hospital . Board for a time. Altogether lie had equipped himself fully' for the high and honourable position of • Mayor of, Wellington. Now he (tho speaker) understood . there was to be a.'fight—Labour against Capital—but what was the !good of Labour without Capital? Tor Mr. Luke and (himself .lie*could say that they had been ■ labourers all their lives; they had laboured very hard, and-they wero still at it. Mr. Luke was'now a largo employer of labour, and he.had vested interests in the city, and lie had the ; best reasons for being 'anxious for the city's welfare, as : a Mayor should be. Not a Class Candidate,-. - ; Mr. Luke said lie approached the Mayoral campaign after due consideration and : .with'some feeling: of responsibility. He ' realised fully how much time and-.energ.v . _.tl(e work of Mayor of the city demanded from the holder of the office. •• He claim- ■ cd that he had served a good apprentice- ' uliip, and he had qualified himself fairly -for the office. He stood not as (the. re- : v presentative of any particular _class, but - of the people as a whole, antL lie had : been, interested in the indukrial and progressive life of the city for. many years, (having arrived , here .-10 years/ago as _ » young mar.. While amember of the City . ■•' Council lie had been chairman of 'the-Ke-serves .Committee for'many years,'and «lso for a numberj of years ho had been ■ chairman 'of. the By-laWs Committee. This had given him a very clear and accurate ■ knowledge of the 'work;'. ofadministering tlio city. 'When he 'joined,the:council tho old horse-cars -were running,, and it was at least partly .through his'efforts and ; , advocacy that the company was bought "'%.«ut : by the city... Since then. the. service had developed,, and electricity, had tc- . rplaced horse traction. He had been one of. those who 1 had.'thought that there could be no proper broad spirit inmunici;pal y affairs' under the .old".ward system, : wild. he had always'been actively asso- '. ;ciated with to abolish the .'" .wards. Another question in which he'had "■ been active, was- the duplication, of tho water supply.' He had introduced into ; the City Council the-Evans Bay reclama-. tion scheme, and had-it.not been'for his efforts the reclamation 'scheme would not . havo. been authorised, tine patent slip , f would probably nob have been built in : Evans Bay/.and the gasworks ivonld never ... -ha;vo ; been • moved 'out "to Miramar. -He j- (had supported Councillor Dovinejs mo- .' -lion,' which led to .the establishment of a greater' Wellington.- As chairman of the Hospital, Board 'ho had interested : himself in the prevention of tuberculosis, and it was during his time that, the Hospital. at Otaki was initiated. Before the sanatorium, was built there were first " j;et up a number of canvas tents,-tfaicfi were erected under his personal supervision. He regarded the fight against ■ tuberculosis as a matter of. national im- . ; ijortance: ■ \ . ■- , -. Quiet Years 1 Ahead. < - As most of his audience knew, fiio oity was ' not in urgent, need, of many - More expensive works. - For" some time to come wo should require improvement rather than-new, enterprises., In speakiug of -the Wainui water, 'supply, ho jiaid -a high tribute to, Mr. 'W. H. Mor- ' . tou. City Engiueer, Who, 'ho said, .was fit to be associated, with any municipality, in tlio British Empire, His work in designing and building the water ; supply system of the city, had been invaluable to the community and the city had every right to-be-proud-of the result of it. They had a -water reserve in storage' sufficient lor fifty-seven days, which was an ample provision against any ; possible continV-- gency. 'He had been interested ' as a \' councillor, too, in the deep drainage ' \ scheme, which liad improved the health and comfort of tho people in the suburbs as well as in tho city. The scheme/had not. been an easy one to put in operation ;here, owing to the conformation of' the '.district, .and for the success of it''due . credit ought to be given\to the engineerins staff of ,tho City Corporation., .: -v' '. '.. ■

'• City Improvements. ' .was' most needed in ; Wellington "was a. city improvement scheme—(ap'plausoj—Aiid in'order, to make a success of suet a scheme dt would be necessary to anako the'■'whole of the community enthusiastic about it. Ho. did not believe , <that the strain of the scheme should pull , lieavily upon. the present generation or . on any Olio generation. It should be* spread" over at least three generations, and; any-. money expended would be spent ns jort of the whole scheme, It-money ' [was to he. borrowed it should bo borrowed > for a period of at least 75 years. If tho adea he had suggested could bo crystallis-- ' : td, and a plan of city improvements formulated, ho ; tho:ight it would be no,unr common thing for wealthy patriotic citiy.cns to deviso somo of their wealth by •will to the city for expenditure on' tho ; . scheme. There should be 'efforts madi r :',. to open, up our congested areas. While he ■was in Parliament ho h«d always objected to working men's homes being : l&hcd in any'ono part of Wellington. II& claimed then, as ho did now, that .working men liad as much rifeht to live in 0110 part of tho city - as anotheir~-(ai> , clause)—and ho thought that by encouragang them to mako their homes in any • l'art they chose much could be done, to • wipo out that class distinction of which so much had been heaTd of of late. After all, most of tho people in Wellington : • were workers of ono kind or another; thero ••was no real aristocracy. Ho believed wo bhoiild conseJvo and'increase.our .'open pyaces, and especially wo should provide ample and easily accessible playgrounds for tho children. In connection with tho Kclieme, too, he would advocate the building of tepid baths, which ho believed could r 'be heated'at a minimum of cost, if they were established near the power house. He would also be strongly in fav-. - our of tho establishment of sub-libraries and reading-rooms in the suburbs, and of tho extension of tho Art Gallery; in tho city. Ho believed tho council should go on step by step with tho Town. Belt improvement scheme. .As for Mr. Morton's scheme for dealing with tho Basin Ileserve, he thought it should bo subiiiit- • ; ted to a poll'of the jieople.., He. had had enough'experience in Parliament to know that thero was.no chance, of getting through the Houie'the necessary legislation to enable it to be- done, unless tho peoplo of Wellington had declared in favour of it. _ Tho schcme would allow ,of tho retention of a good playing area and a good grandstand site in the Basin, . and it would allow of a faster service southwards to the other playing areas of the city.'. He was strongly in favour of the extension of, the tramlines over the • Constable Street hill 'to junction with the Kilbirnie line. (Applause.) Ho had brought this scheme forwnrd when ho was a member of tho council, but'al- ' though the council had approved it, nothing' had beon done to give effect to it. It was but fair that tho peoplo in tho south end 'of the city should have easier access to th» Lynll Bay resort, on which eo much of tho city's money, had been spent. Another work which ho believed should bp undertaken was a traffic tunnel under Mount Victoria, which could ho approached by a gradient of not more than one in thirty. (Applause.) To this scheme Jliramar should be expected to contribute.; Ho belioved that an'open pea bath, similar to the one at St. Clair, Dunedin, could be built at Island Bay. This could be dono at a comparatively low cost, and ho thought it should bo done. Recreation grounds should bo provided for tho residents of Brooklyn.

Northland, and 'Wadestown. Tlio Summit Road from the top of Constable Street should bo extended year by year, until it could bo made a good carriago drive, planted with trees on either side. City Leases. He referred to the controversy over city leases, which, ho said, ho wished to approach in tlio most equitable manner possible. But he recognised that the city leaseholds" were a valuable asset to the city, and if returned ho would do his utmost to see that the city got its proper return consistent with lair dealing, as beween -landlord and. tenant. To <lo away with t'ho hardship sometimes suffered now by tenants at tlio expiry of tlio term of a lease, htf thought tenants should bo allowed a "suspense period" in which to decide either to renew tlio lease themselves, or dispose of their interest (building, etc.) in it to another who' might requiro'it. This suspense period could-be. a year or two years, and the tenant should be required to pay the full rent. , ~ Ho believed that the tramways should pay not only interest charge, but depreciation and sinking fund, and smnm' finance themselves absolutely. lhey should not charge upon tlio. rates. Ho vos not in 'favour of people being carried atsuch a price thait tlio tramways ■would have to draw upon other funds their' upkeep. Recently the' fares' had been . increased 100 per • cent, in some areas, and lie . did think this was equitable. He would, like jo sed a ticket entitling the . holder to eight rides for a shilling, available for two sections, issued by the Department. (Applause.) He saw 110 earthly reason why workers return tickets should not be available for return'afc anvtimo in the evening. (Applause.) Wellington • had for some years been- suffering from v. depression, and now we were recovering, and there were signs of"- prosperous*-times ahead. Ho hoped that' prosoerity would come again, and that Wellington would grow to be a city worthy'vbf-this fiiir Dominion. plause.)

Y Questions, After 'his .'address, ono of tlic oudicncc, evidently a supporter ,of Mr. Luke's opponent, asked the candidate o. series- of questions which had very littlo point and very'little-interest Ho asked Mr. Luke, for.' instance, -what lie reckoned , a fair wage for general labourers, Mr. Luke said ho thought a man should get a fair reward for his labour, but he ■would not set himself un as a. judge of what any workers .should rcceive. *<When I ( was a, member of the council," he said, "long "before your, people had any strength in the community, !■ was recognised as a friend of "the workers, y" You ask any of the. . wbrkjWn I .'of those days who was their friend-oil the council, and they will tell you it ' was Jack Luke.". "The questioner wanted to know also whether Mr. Luke hod not said once that the Mayor should hold office for two years. Mr. Lulco admitted that he had said so, but hi? remark had reference to a timo when the' council had important works 'on hand. Last.year lie hacl_ refrained from standing, "because he considered that John Smith, who had served twentyvfivo years in tlie oouncil, was absolutely entitled to the Mayoralty. And had -not Mr. • M'Lartii himself said that ■there.should.bo a contest every year? Thanks and Confidehcc. "A' v<jte : o'f . tlianks. and confidence waa carried by ,J ail. overwhelming majority, only six votes x being recorded against it.