CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Star, Issue 19789, 13 February 1928, Page 11

CORRESPONDENCE

MUNICIPAL ENTERPRISES

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,--Dunedin lags far behind in its possession of municipal enterprises. Even the bathing facilities at St. Clair are leased to one individual, and the revenue from the same, which should go to the improvement of the beach, finds its way into a private pocket, it is to be hoped that the St. Clair Improvement Association will see to it when building the new bathing sheds that the council appoint a caretaker at a weekly wage for the season. At the Botanical Gardens we have just lately built a nice bungalow tea room. It is perched on the top of a hill. The view from there is splendid, if one is lucky enough to possess a car to carry one up so far, but the council will not get rich if it depends on view to bring tiic money in. The bands play on the fiat, and hundreds gather there to enjoy the music and the flowers, and right behind the rotunda is an ideal spot for a spacious and pretty up-to-date tea room, which would do a roaring trade every Sunday and every evening the bands are playing. Any business person knows that if lie wants trade ho must bo where the people arc, and not out of sight, and if these facilities are put up by the people, they should be run for the people, because without the people they are no use whatever Your contributor, “ Q.V.” says: “We respect the Rev. Mr Archer, Mayor of Christchurch, but wc also disagree with him.” and he goes on to point out that municipally run enterprises arc not so well managed as those which are privately owned. That may bo true in some'' instances, for the past ages of badgering trade for profit should have made us past masters at the game, but when it comes to trading for the people it takes an expert, and as_ municipal enterprises arc only in their infancy one expects a mistake now and then. There is no reason in the world why a municipal milk supply or any other supply should not he run better than a company run by a few shareholders, and the profits devoted to lessening the cost of the article, the saving of labor by overlapping, and eventually lightening the taxation of the people. But no. Anything in the nature of muni-cipally-owned enterprise is like a red rag to a bull. We fight against it tooth and nail, and all the time we are hurting ourselves, because it is our own selves we are lighting against. We want a few Mr Archers in our council here — men with a vision and high ideals, and courage to carry them out, who believe in making life a little sweeter for their neighbors by lightening their burdens. I am. etc., A Harassed Housewife. February 13.