A DEPARTING CITIZEN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 11, 8 October 1919, Page 8

A DEPARTING CITIZEN

VIEWS OF MR. ALEXANDER MACINTOSH

ON VITAL PROBLEMS

Mr. Alexander Macintosh, a gentleman who has held very eminent positions in this country over a considerable term of years, is leaving Wellington this week to take up his rcsidenco in Australia, the land of his adoption, after coining out from Scotland as a youth w.ith his parents. Mr. Macintosh came to New Zealand originally in 1898 as chief auditor of the Bank of New Zealand, and from that position was pro-j uiotod to be general manager, a position, he relinquished in K(IS, owing to a dis-i agreement with the I hen head of the New Zealand Government. Mr. Macintosh then returned ( 0 Sydney, where he was appointed president of the Government (N.S.W.) Savings Bank Commissioners. 'Two years later Messes. Da!gety and Co. made him a tempting offer to become their superintendent in New Zealand, and it was owing to his knowledge of New Zealand and the friends he had made here that he accepted the post for a term of live years. The term wns then extended from year Ito year until 1916, when ho finally retired from business. During ithe war period Mr. Macintosh has thrown the weight of his knowledge mid experience into war work, and has done a great deal of valuable work conscientiously and unostentatiously. Ho was a member of the Munitions Board. Being a member of that board, Mr. Macintosh/in speaking to a Dominion representative, yesterday, said he did not care to say anything about, its work. The Hon. Arthur Myers had said everything at a recent function, when ho 'stated that the boaro.' had nut up a record for the world, inasmuch as it had gone through without a blot on its escutcheon, and never a penny had gone wrong. War Relief Association. Mr. Macintosh spoke of the very excellent work which had been done'right (through the war by the Wnr Relief Association,, with which ho had been associated since it<= inception. "The association." said Mr. Macintosh, "has relieved the Government of a vast amount of valuable and responsible work—work the Government would otherwise have had to do—and is tfoing it without making any charge. The work is really centred in Wellington—the capital city— and correlaled societies in other parts of the country all depended more or less on the nssocinlion. Now the association is working on its capital. Hundreds of cases of relief are being attended to every week, and while all the money for such cases is going out there is liltlo coming lin. I think the Government would be well ndvised if tjie. money from conienf thetolhor funds whoso purpose has been fulfilled should be diverted to the Wnr Belief' Association. Only the other dnv I saw a letter in Trre Dominion relating to a field service fund, which hod been wound up by order of the Minister, hut. the balance of which (according to the. writer) was being diverted to purposes other than these for which tho mnnev was raised'. The Minister apparently had the power to wind up a fund, but not to .allocate the'balance. Such funds, t think, should, he handed over to such bodies as the War Belief As°ocia'inn. which is daily attending to the relief of soldiers and their dependants." The Housing Problem. "To tell you 'the truth. I am not very sorry to leave New Zealand," continued! Mr. Macintosh, "for I take a keen interest, in affairs, and am disappointed at ,the way things are going in this country. 'Take, for example, the housing problem, which the Government is directly responsible for. A few years ago we had no housing problem, but the Government in its- blindnoss pnssed a' limitation of rent. Bid. at the instance of certain irresponsible.?, which provided that a landlord was not entitled to charge more than 8 per cent, of the value (pre war) for rent. Now. no owner of.property can meet. the drain ■. incurred by : insurance, rates, laud tax, repairs, and improvements, and make tho property pay on an 8 per cent, rental. It simply can't be done, and tho inevitable result has followed. No one with capital will invest in houso property, and they will not bui'M, because Parliament in its foolishness will pot allow a reasonable Teturn. A few years ago there were men with capital buying up land and building lic.nsea by the score to keep p.iec_ with the growth of the city. Now nothing of the kind is being done—because of this ridiculous limitation of rent Bill. Yet they cannot see that tho one way to settle the housing problem is to rescind the Bill at once. It is a s'mplo economic question. Wherever the Government steps in to interfere with the law.of supply and demand trouble always results. It does these things on the spur, of the moment just to tide it over for the time being, and to please a certain section. The Government alone has crentcd tho housing problem, and it is for it to find a way out.All Compromise, No Courase. "Take again ij tho railway 'cut,' into which a Royal Commission is 4 now inquiring. If the railway people had had the pluck and courage to say that tho 'cut' was due to men who wouW network themselves and who offered resistance to other men working fairly in Mho output of coal, the position would have been tf.ucidaled very quickly; but no, they must come back and put it on-to the Munitions Board, and that, as ,Mr. Miles said, was a contemptible thing. It wns simply playing into the hands of the Labour leaders, arid supplying fliem with the means of disguising the true cimse of tho railway 'cut.' What if the Railway Department had got its own way, and all the coal? The meat works and gasworks and other big industries wouM have had to closedown, and what would he the uso of running the trains if tho industries on which they depend for traffic were closed down? It wns a case of 'truckle and compromise instead of facing the position with truth and courage. Messrs. Semple, Holland, and Co;' are permitted to say what they like in public meetings, but there is no one to put the real and rational 'Hide of the case to tho snino audiences, so what happens cannot come ns a surprise. I was amused at Mr. Seir.plo's tirado about the dying miner, who had said: 'Look here, Bob, I bocmeath you my lungs!' Two years ago, during 'the by-election for Wellington Central or South, I hoard Mr. Semple toll the story in the Post Office Square, on which occasion ho said that lie had the lungs of Hie man who lnd died from minor's phthisis, and would some day exhibit them in Parliament. Now ho tells.thc same dramatic story to the House, but admits that he. hadn't got the lungs Perhaps he will have them, at the next election I"