MAYOR’S VIEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1930, Page 5

MAYOR’S VIEWS

OF PUBLIC SERVICES

(By Telegraph—Per Press Association.^

STRATFORD, May 6. At a meeting of householders last night, the Mayor of .Stratford (Mr P. Thomson) said he had not been a supporter of the school dental clinics as at present constituted, believing the work of the kind should be done by private members of the community. However, the Government of the country, which each year was becoming more paternal, had seen fit to .institute .clinics. The treatment' was ripen to all children whether the parents . were in a position, to pay for the work or not. .Parents could make donations to the cost, but in Stratford the response had been poor. " It seemed the people of New Zealand more and more each year expected further social services from the ' Government, and though able to do so were not prepared to pay for those services even when given at a much less cost than if private practitioners were .patronlised. He had heard 'of some servise being rendered jto the public-, described as simply another form of the dole. Exception might be taken to the use of this term, hut there was little difference between the acceptance of a dole and acceptance of public services by people who could afford to pay, and did not, Those present at. the meeting did not agree '" with the Mayor’s reiharks.