"DOMINEERING AUTOCRAT"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 126, 24 November 1926, Page 9

"DOMINEERING AUTOCRAT"

ISE&JfcON THE CIVIC LEAGUE

COUNCMXOR BENNETT HAS BOTH CLOVES OFF

JEHE TUNNEL AND OTHEB CITY ": ■•-'■ . WORKS.

Councillor H. D. Bennett, chair- ■ Sian of the Works Committee of the City Council, speaking at the annual meeting of the Wadestown ' i and Highland Park Progressive Asr.. Boeiation last evening, added to his ' "declaration of war against the Csvie League, and gave reasons that had prompted his opposition. •-••He regretted very much, he said, the "" texeemnstan-ces which had led up _to the position. In the years past, V fc*er- since the .Labour Party insisted '^jptisi'nominating a full ticket of its jDnsk' representatives for the positions ..jpif Mayor and councillors, it seemed de- _ Sirabie that the citizens should combat '.:. this.attempt with a counter move. It "Ibe^ame imperative that, in order to ' gTFe1 to the general body of electors • taR and untrammelled right to elect -their Mayor by a majority vote of the -jpeople as a whole, a single candidate fbouH stand against the well-organised camp. "" "That party," he continued, "woris Itader' strict discipline, and the party ' Ibosses must be obeyed. Their vote in fhis city is a growing force, and is en- ■ pitied to respect. Their nominees make teertain. pledges, thereby bringing about control from outside. This is not peculiar to Wellington or to New Zealand. ' tft is the Labour way of organisation • jam? winning class political battles. The , introduction ,of this pernicious system . .into our municipal life is to be dertojred. It is dear that with the large v liabonr vote given en block to a single candidate, the anti-Labour section of ;tbe community could not afford to mul•jßpb/.its candidates. "BUSHES HEADLONG TO DECISIONS." •'Mred by the experience of one sneh "^ifeiory' in the past, citizens clamoured , Sim relief. It.is the irony of fate that -la the mouthpiece of the Civic League ,>W.jsee .to-day the shadow of that ..{Labour Mayor! We could get no betJjjer witness of the ills which we now jpfahto avoid, and yet tie league bor- ■. foma the lesson. From the task of ...fruvT rating between plural citizens' can- - (Bidates .a body had gradually grown to -. Jio the octopus we find to-day masquer-.-tffing ..under the name of the Civic i*agne. This body has out-heroded Jterod. It has beaten the starter. It - Sow functions like a domineering auto--prat. Labour does consult its" constitu- » tsni 'bodies when it comes to selecting . (candidates, but the Civic League rushes , headlong into its decisions and consults Pie 'various Eatepaycrs' Associations "pkfterwards**This is exactly what has happened $n"their selection, of a candidate for the jMayorslty this time. Watch the frantic efforts they will now make to ob- " tain endorsements of their stupid ae"jaonl X venture to prophesy that some ' tik least of these bodies will show re- *' jjignbheht and repudiate the attempt to , jockey "them into surveillance, NOTICE TO QUIT. ."""There are many men in Wellington eminently suitable for the position •trf'Mayor. It is the business of the efitxens to draw these men 6ut, eerjaxniy sot to bar them by beating She "big dram, and this is where ifehe Civic League has; failed. Can '" Jfc'"be ' said that the league lias 'pttempied to seek out a suitable candijßates:..,Kven if they disliked the indeJpendenee of the present Mayor and his •_ taefnsal to kowtow to them, did they {attempt to seek out another man from " f£e list of our captains of industry and "'Samineree? ■ No, they set themselves (tint deliberately to block offers, and did _£jot hesitate to inflict humility on the the present Mayor by 'giving him notmonths before his term exprr- , ,t)i It is a sufficient commentary on war action that councillors as a body, Jaeaking all precedents, publicly exjpicceaed What amounts to no confidence ♦—and sorely they are the better judges. time we will give the etecfan an account of the stewardship oi . Jte' present eotmeiL I venture to sug■ji|gßßt that the pubKe will accept our ' "work as at least equal to any other "'jbody\©f men despite the harpings of the :**CRAOim mv be told about ..,.,.;.,,,, . IT." ... •'The Mayor is not without friends, .■^te has had offers of help from many ;'.j*yMrters. When the time comes we will :pßfc up an organisation which will en"feare an. intensive campaign. Our ranks ■"■^rill be open *v all citizens, and we -welcome new men. We intend that eteetars shall know the truth before ."-jHwy go to the poll. It is not proposed thai the election campaign should com"Btraee how, but it is neeeseary to say '"that it will commence at the right - fcimei' Tie Civic League has proven it.fieif incapable of correctly sensing the - *ity a tolerant community expected of them, and I think they are going to be folS. about it." The fight, continued Councillor BenJiett, was not against CormcilloT G. A. Troup, the leaguers nominee, it was a fight - against the dictatorship of the jCme League, not against anything that %ras f air, but against the unfair tactics : Iwhieh mn£ t be intolerable to the people |rf Weffingtan as a whole. "Sometimes," he said, "I wonder Wry I should be so foolish as to run. the risk of being politically annihilated )bry, tins body, but perhaps the risk is „, fcot.ao real. It is a matter for the jteat oJ1 the people. ... I appeal to yott as free citizens to come to the fceaeoe of" those who, like myself, dare "to figftt the body which endeavours to , fßetate who shall be Mayor and who MaQ be members of the City Council. fEho right to elect -whom they think fit - to the senior position on the council fwauta trith the people. We want some - ftf H» ocf mediation, but in my opinion 7'tte Civic League has gone right past --fßat-and has adopted the Big Stick. "',"" THEi COUN UILLORS TOO. •-.•■■ ••Onr qnarrel is with the Crvie ■•■%eagOß for endeavouring to bl.>ck '~Wher ■ eitizras from coming forward. «-.■■ tybey. 'will adopt the same tactics with fhe oroneiDoTS, "but we intend this year t, io make a eonnt«r-move, so that citizens who come forward may have the . packing and herp that will give them "i-reasonable opportunity of w-innring ! jttnongh." A £2,000,000 BABT. ' ' ConneiDor Bennett then turned to the jprewent problems before the City Coun""ita, and named as the greatest of them the"vbig loan of 1920. That loan was drawn up and placed before the ratepayers at n time when people spoke in ndHions with the greatest fluency. tChere was something for most people ami the -esult was the carrying of the proposals in toto.' Some of the pro- • posaJb wero most inadvisable, and to(Jay the council carried that fine, boune...ing baby. ' j „. WJ]at oe earth, fox instance, was the feoiimeil going to do about the second fcnmel through Mount Victoria? The ':feist to-day would not bn less than "ijttSfter of a million pounds, and at 6 ;,^cr cent, interest, pins sinking ,fnnd •' I^Marges, what was that going to raean ts an additional load upon the. rates, fcofc.ooilj; for those- "who lived- on the-.

other side of Mount Victoria, but for the city as a whole? He was not denouncing the tunnel proposal, but he wished to point out the responsibility ' placed upon present councillors by the action of a past council. "Probably the wisest course," continued Councillor Bennett, "would be for th« council to say clearly: 'The £.160,000 available under the 1920 loan will not build the tunnel; another £80,000 or £90,000 will bo required,' and then leave it to the ratepayers to say whether this additional sum shall be borrowed. If they turn that down then there will be the end of the tunnel. ' ' TO THE WEST. Very much the same remarks applied to the Raroa road tramway, a "most preposterous proposal," for the best route to the western suburbs did not lie that way. He had searched very carefully and he bad not been able to discover what was the origin of that I sebeme. Mention of aeeess to the western suburbs brought one to the Kill street question. That was one subject upon which he and the Mayor disagreed, but disagreement there did not mean disagreement on all points. He was convinced that Hill street did not offer the solution, and he thought that he was on the winning side, by accident, Parliament, or, rather, two committees of the House, had come into the matter. "Providence always does come to those who are fighting for an honest cause," he remarked with a smile,-. There was still another ridiculous proposal on 4hat 1920 loan schedule: "Trams to Melrose." It was obvious that trams could not be taken up there, but there it was on the list. THE GREATEST QUESTION. By far the greatest question before the council was that of town-planning, continued Conncillor Bennett, and to handle sneh a big task a council /of vision, ability, and courage must be returned to office next April. He referred to the negotiations with the Government in regard to the combination of the-National War Memorial, the National Museum and Art Gallery, and the Carillon on the Mount Cook site, a magnificent block of buildings upon a magnificent site. That alone should be sufficient incentive to the council and the city to wipe away the dingy, slummy area of Te Ato flat. Without going into details, Councillor Bennett suggested that in front of this block might be laid out a great civic square and centre, with a broad arterial road leading down to the mideity area. Soch a scheme would be not accomplished in one year or five, perhaps its full achievement would ocsupy 50 years, but it was a plan possible of accomplishment now that the Town 'Planning. Act gave the coni.«il sufficient powers.