BEFORE THE POLL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1911, Page 5

BEFORE THE POLL.

TNE COMING ELECTIONS. COUNCIL AND HARBOUR BOARD. THE CANDIDATES. Interest in the municipal and Harbour Board elections so far is small if the attendance at the- meetings addressed by candidates is any indication of the feeling of the public. However, the ardour of the Labour candidates is not damped by small audiences. Only a dozen people assembled to hear Messrs. E. J. Carey and W. T. Young (who are standing for the City Council and the Harbour Board respectively in the Labour interest/ in the Clyde-quay Schoolroom last evening, but they bravely declared their creed, content to reach a larger • audience through the press. Mr. Carey was careful to claim that what little interest there is- in the contest which takes place on the 26th inst. almost entirely belongs to the Labour Party. Mr. Young was much moire vigorous in his references to the attendance. It was strange, he said, that where matters of .vital concern to the -workers were under consideration the workers were conspicuous by their absence. Yet they would' go down to the Conciliation Council or the Arbitration. Court for a Is increase in wages which, when all was saad and done, was of no economic -value. When an. opportunity presented itself for him to exercise his vote and his privileges and capture the political machine and the government of the council, he was nob m evidence. " I .spoke to empty benches on Monday 'night," he said, "and I am almost speaking to them tonight. We find the General Labourers' Unjon confronted with a serious difficulty, and the tramway employees are in the same position. If they are to get out of that and obtain justecs it te necessary that they should send to the council persons atrectly representingthemselves, and befoaje they can do that it is necessary thai they should take * # an interest in municipal affairs. Where are they? Not here! If that council consisted of fifteen Labour members — and we claim to have just as much intelligence as any other section in this community — and a Labour Mayor, Labour would have sole control of the affairs of the city. If Labour wae in power the people would get a cheaper tram service and the men would have better conditions." "And who would pay?" queried a man in the audience. Mr. Young replied by a lengthy reference to Harbour Board contracts. In a nutshell his idea was to substitute day labour for contracts. The Citizens' League will meet on Monday night to select a ticket for the council. As far as can be gathered the League 3tands for economy and the re-election of a majority of, the present councillors. /J Mr. T. Smith, one of the Labour eight, addressed a number of people at Drum-mond-sfcreet lasb evening, and further expounded the Trades Council platform. He urged the establishment of municipal markets on the lines adopted by his colleagues, and also stated that the extension of the Constable-street tramway line to Kilbirnie should be carried out at the earliest opportunity. Mr. George Shirtcliffe, a member of the present council, has definitely decided to seek re-election. v - The returning officer, Mr. Ames,*-has his arrangements for the poll well forward. Altogether provision will bs ' made for about sixty booths. Owing to a bazaar being held in the Town Hall on election day the booths at the central polling place will be erected in the Concert Chamber. In the past a staff of about 100 persons has been employed on polling day by the returning officer, but it is estimated by Mr. Ames that from 150 to 160 will be required on this occasion on account of the extra work entailed by the Harbour BoaTd election. The Harbour Board election is going to lead to inevitable dispute. Section 14 of the Harbours Act, passed last year, provides that: — "The reasonable cost of every election under this Act that is not held simultaneously with the election of members of any local authority, and the reasonable additional cost incurred by a .local authority in respect of any election under this Act that i* held simultaneously with the election of members of the local authority . . . . shall be paid by the Harbour Board. Any dispute as to the amount to be paid by a Harbour Board . ._ . . . shall be determined by the' Audit Office after such enquiry as it thinks fit, and the decision .... shall be final." Now it is understood that the Harbour Board may take up the position that it is in no way responsible for part of the cost of erection of booths, etc. — just the bare ".additional" cost incurred. The precise construction to be put upon the word is not likely to be settled in a few minutes, and the doubt that exists ]in the * minds of councillors on suburban local bodies already makes it clear that the work of the Audit Office will be considerably augmented in the next couple of months. The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson, who, for a number of years has been a member of the Legislative Council, will stand for election to the City Council. "We are not carpet baggers," said Mr. Carey last evening. ".We are not here on our own announcement. We are hero as the selected candidates of the Labour party, and it takes something to win selection., because Labour is a hard taskmaster. We are honest and earnest, and we ask for a trial for two years. We cannot do any worse than the present council, and we hope, if returned, to do a great deal better." ' Mr. John Fuller, jun., a member of the well-known Fuller firm, is making his debut on the stage municipal. In offering hi« services as a City Councillor, he submits that his position is one of absolute independence. He modestly points to his record of success in busi ness, and claims that the qualities which promote success in private business should be equally valuable in public business. The principal planks in his platform are : (1) Thorough enquiry into the tramway service, with a view to securing a greater U6« of th« cans ai no increase in cost; (2) municipal markete for free and unrestricted competitive trading for the benefit- of the community as a whole ; (3) opposition to any bylaws tending to undue restraint of the progress of the city and its trade; (4) hostility to "star chamber methods of conducting the citizens' business." Mr. Young does not think there is any warrant for the Harbour Board retaining the services of a consulting (or advising) -engineer. The present engineer (Mr. Marchbanks), he said at Clydequay last evening, is well qualified to do all the work hiinelf. Mr. Young paid a warm tribute to the excellence of the •work done by Mr. Marchbanks since his appointment. Mr. Len M'Kenzie has definitely decided to become a candidate at tho municipal election. One candidate for the council, an Independent Labour man, has some novel

ideas of what constitutes fitness for election. In his manifesto he says that "workers will get an immediate benefit from his election." Further, he advises his fellows : "Workers should avail themselves of my oratorical displays. I have addressed several meetings and ! have received a splendid hearing from the public. I have been twice carried shdulder-high after a long discourse, my platform being so highly appreciated." Two planks in his platform are "reduction of the dog tax" and "dust-bins to be provided by landlords * . - - , with personal supervision by councillors. "- It is estimated that about thirty candidate* have so far announced them- ! selves for the council. Intending candidates are urged by the i returning officer to send in their nomi- i nations before Thursday next. The j city offices will bs closed from that day j till the following Wednesday morning, i Nominations will not be received after the 19th inst. . Mr. M. J. Reardon, one of the Labour candidates, points out that in a I list of successful tenderers he has compiled the name of no single firm appears ; twice. He thinks this is peculiar in the j light of the fact that what he describes as the same circle of firms and no others are always competing. Mr. Reardon urges that the requirements of the tramways in particular are now so great that it would pay the council to have a •buyer in London. Mr. H. W. Shortt, who announces in this" issue that he will again be a candidate for the Mayoralty of Eastbourne^ will review the work of the council for the past year at an early date, and later on will speak on matters of general interest to the borough. The Labour Paity's candidates will address three open-air meetings to-night — one at the end of Courtenay-place at 7.15 p.m., another at the corner of Buckle and Tory-streets, and the third opposite Constable-street, Newtown, at j 7.30 p.m. On Monday evening an open- j air meeting is to be held at Berhampore (corner of Palm-grove). The Brooklyn residents will be met in the schoolroom I ' there on Tuesday next, at 8^ p.m. The i candidates who are speaking at these meetings include Messrs. D. M'Laren, Thomas Smith, W. J. Jordan, A. H. j Hindmarsh, E. J. Carey, M. J. Rear'don, W. T. Young, and G. F. Reyling. I The executive of the . Wadestown Ratepayers' Association, at , a meeting last night, passed a resolution regret- j ting the withdrawal of Mr. J. P. Luke, ; M.P., from municipal life, and expressing the hope that at some future time he may see his way to again place his services at the disposal of the city. This evening Dr. Cameron will address the electors in. the Sydney-street Schoolroom, at 8.15 o'clock. Mr. John Brodie will seek re-election as Mayor of Miramar. A deputation is to wait on Mr. Edgar Wylie, asking him to stand for election to the council. i Mr. Young, in his address on harbour affairs at Clyde-quay last evening, stated that if the Harbour Board had carried out the contracts it had put in haftd and completed between the years 1902 and 1910 by day labour a saving of £51,568 would have been effected. The actual cost of the works completed and in hand over the period named will be £412,542. Mr. Young's calculations are based on the fact that the wood-blocking which the city carried out by day labour was one-eighth cheaper than that done under contractExtending his illustration to the King's Wharf, which cost £79,441, he said the saving on the basis of his previous calculation if the work ' had been carried out by day labour would have been £9930. The work extended over two years and six months, and if the wages of 200 meni had teen increased by 2s per week over the whole period the extra cost entailed thereby would only have been £2600, and if that was deducted from the estimated saving (£9930), it would have left sufficient "to have almost paid for the new V and W brick scores opposite the Union Company's offices. ■ | \ Mr. E. Gallichsn, general secretary of the Liberal ; and Labour Federation, has decided to stand for the council. Mr. J. Mandel announces his candidature for a seat on the City Council. He has been 35 years in Wellington.