WELLINGTON NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1925, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

ELECTIONS AND PROSPECTS,

(Special to “Guardi",n”.)

WELLINGTON, February 21

'flu; .Municipal Elections and the General Elections come on this year, * but Wellington seems unable to raise * any enthusiasm. Perhaps the infantile paralysis scare, the check to children’s movements, and the dullness of trade t are responsible for the apathy displayed. The present .Mayor of Wellington will not seek re-election, conse- * <iuentiy there are several Richmonds in 1 the field. We are burdened with quite ! a number of leagues and associatiins, and each of these bodies wants its own < particular candidate nominated. Thus it is probable that there will he two or three candidates for the Mayoralty apart from the Labour candidate, and if all are as determined to go to the poll ns Mr T. Forsyth then there is a strong probability that the Laboui candidate will win. Ihe only solid party on paper is Labour, hut in a straight out fight Labour could not xx*in the mayoralty. Labour secured it years ago when Mr D. M.ncLnrCn was elected, hut the city never repeated the experiment. There is a strong danger that Labour will win because of the probable multiplicity of candidates. The candidate chosen by the Labour Party may he classed as a professional politician, and lie is not a persona grata with the more level headed labour folks, and he would not therefore have a chance ol scoring a win. Wellington just now needs a strong able man with constructive ability. for the utilities required by the growing city are numerous, and theii construction will involve the expenditure of much loan money. Really what the Mayor of Wellington has to stand up against is incompetence and the disposition of the Council to squander money. Rates tend to increase and the ratepayers will presently he criticising and complaining. The Mayoral election this year promises to he very interesting and there arc possibilities of a big surprise. THE ROUSING SHORTAGE. The re is still an acute shortage of houses in Wellington hut not so acute as it was. Rut while most people declaim against the shortage no effort has yet been made by the authorities or by others to ascertain the root cause of tiie trouble. Wo know in a general way that during the war building of houses was very much restricted, and that that in itself was. to a large extent. responsible for the shortage. The war is a tiling of the past; it ended over six years ago, and the house shortage is still a very serious

problem. There were eontrilmtii causes, and one of these was the Rei Restriction Act. Once a house was h there were tremendous difficulties

getting rid of the tenant, even where the reasons for wishing to get rid of him were legitimate and reasonable. 'Phis discouraged the speculative builder, and what building has been going on since has been on account of private individuals for their own occupation, q o private individual could not build as cheaply as the building speculator, and in any case building costs arc so bigb that a plainly built four-roomed cottage costs about £5)00 to erect, anil the land is an additional charge. What working-man can with his I'd or ITS per week all'ord to build a cottage which with the land will cost him 01100 to £I2OO. The speculative builder instead ol venturing upon the erection of new houses, has developed the scheme of converting six and sev-

en-roomed houses into flats, fur which high rentals are obtainable. A good many families have now acquired “the habit of the fiat,” and prefer a Hat to that of a private home. Inquiry wants to he made into the cost of building: Why timber, cement and other building materials arc so expensive. If remedies could be applied in this direction it would he better tliair crili(isiiig the Government and the muni cipality. The slogan should he “Reduce the cost ol house-building,” and in tins tlm Government can help bv abandoning Customs duties on timber, cement, building mn-tcriai and build-

ers’ hardware. ROWLING CLUB I.AAVSFIT

The case of J. I). Sievright v. the Wellington Bowling Club lias not many points of interest. Briefly when Kievwright went to the club-house to get into his llannel trousers lie found that these wore mutilated, lie accused another member of doing this—the latter is alleged to have called him a liar, he retorted and there was a hit of a scrap. The matter was reported to tl*e .Directors who decided, to expel Sievwright from the club. Sievxvright proceeded in the Supreme Court to restrain the club from taking the action contemplated. The interesting I oat lire about the rase was that it was the first heard by Mr Justice Ostler, whose written judgment was lucid and masterly. Sievwright was granted the injunction and £1 damages and allowed costs, and he won the case because there had not been due observance of the rules when the directors dealt with the matter. His Honor, however, held that plaintiff had duo notice and

opportunity to appear before the directors, that there had not been any want of good faith on the part of the directors and that there had been cause for the expulsion, hut the directors had failed to observe the rules, and on that ground the judgment went against the club. M hethcr the ode H>veniing expulsion was ultra vires his Honor did not deem it necessary to decide. The point on which the decision rested was explicitly rais-

ed in the pleadings. Tt is now probable that appeals will be.lodged on behalf of the club against the judgment.