SEVEN NEW MEN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 196, 17 May 1944, Page 10

SEVEN NEW MEN

Good Reception At Concert Chamber CITIZENS’ CAMPAIGNERS The “seven new men” of the Citizens’ ticket for the Wellington City Council and Hospital Board got a aplemlid reception from all hut a handful of the audience which almost filled tbe down Hall Copcert Chamber last night .Lhc mayoral candidate, Cr Will App etoii, as chairman, thanked the opposition or the advertising it so generously divot<<> to the meeting. There was only.little under 15 minutes for each candidate to CX !Twill“t you Mr. Chairman, and other members of the incoming council to see that suitable Hats with lull amenities are provided for the old people this city at 10/- to 12/0 a "eek, Air L. T. Jacobsen. Labour talked ol lack of vision, but a non-Labour council 25 years ago, with an 80,000 population provided a water supply suflicient almost up till now. And when it was not suflicient a non-Labour council planned another which would have been operating today but for the war. But it had everything ready to begin. “I will give you the service you have the right to expect; service for the community, not any one secton, said -ui. A’ M Simpson, hospital board candidate. Like the other Citizens’ candidates he had not had to sign any pledge or make any promise to any interest or anybody. Sickness knew no politics. He was certain all candidates for the hospital boaia had the best motives. It was tor the people to decide who they thought weiC best qualified to do the job. “If elected, I will go on to the job without fear or favour; with an open mind, to vote as I think fit,” said Mr. A, M. Pope. There was talk of Tories, but look at the municipal milk department which Hutt Labour candidates were so enthusiastically praising and wanting to introduce there —and the Central Library. These were monuments to the Jones. Labour talked about dangers of suburban rates rising as against city rates when they well knew no council hau power to differentiate. 'And if they did it would be over by dead body, concluded Mr. Pope. , Mr K. H. Parton, of Khandallah, fot the hospital board, compared his position with that of a young man starting work for the first time; he had confidence in himself, but his prospective “employers, the people, would have to take him on trust. Two things he would press for all he was worth were the best possible provision for returned servicemen and for those of their kin who, while at home, had lived under a strain of anxiety that might have appreciably affected the health of some.. “Some of my opponents have made the most of the juicy bones I threw out at my early meetings, andi I hope to give them more to exploit, because the more my ideas are known the better chance of getting public goodwill behind them, said Mr. C. Meachen, for the hospital board. “But I would like them to acknowledge the source of their inspiration.” he continued. He advocated a medical service whereby people could get attention at all times. “It has been done in Auckland. I say it can be done, and will be, in Wellington. I want every candidate to push this.” “Some of you may have come here tonight expecting to see Cr. Appleton cracking the whip over us or to hear us referring to him as ‘Big At ill, said Mr. G. ,S. Amos. “But, instead, you find us here as free men with our own ideas, free of pledges to any interest but the common good.” He wanted to see community centres, specially in. outlying suburbs, with a building containing library, hall, social and recreational room, and other facilities for people to get together. The future of democracy would lie in co-operation. Where better could they foster it than among their own citizens? “There has been a lot of talk about taking the gloves off, but non-Labour councillors and mayors have been working for this city for generations with their gloves off,” said Mr. E. R. Toop. He said non-Labour advisedly, because there was a great difference between that and the anti-Labour distinction the opposition wanted to foster. In a brief address Cr. Appleton touched on the aspect of his fitness to represent the city in the wider public sphere, as distinct from the administrative experience he had gained in 27 years’ local body service. He had twice visited overseas,' investigating on the spot

housing and municipal social problems in the big'cities of Britain and Europe. He had represented tNew Zealand interests at international commercial and professional conferences and had the worthwhile experience of contacts with men like Lloyd George, Ramsay Macdonald and J. H. Thomas. “And, I hope,’’ he concluded, “to be your mayor to welcome to the capital—your city—the greatest Empire leader of all, Winston Churchill.” A motion of confidence was carried, about 12 dissenting. Some questions were asked that have already been' dealt with in previous reports of Citizens’ meet“KB -

Cr. J- D. Sievwright, at Island Bay. contrasted the almost threefold increase in hospital rating in recent years with Mr. Nash’s original statement that “the shilling in the pound would cover everything.” When action initiated by him resulted last year in an increased Government subsidy per bed .cost, totalling £279.000 (Wellington benefited by £23,000), this sum was paid out of the Consolidated Fund, though the Social Security Fund had a credit of several millions. If elected, he would press for the full cost of hospital upkeep to be met out of the Consolidated Fund, it having been pointed out to him that such an expense met out of the Social Security Fund might mean an increase in the levy. That would fall most heavily on wageearners. though, it was fair to state, all forms of income paid this levy. Everyone, in equity, contributed to the Consolidated Fund.