MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

Shannon News, 15 April 1925, Page 3

MAYORAL CAMPAIGN.

MK MURDOCH. ADDRESSES THE ELECTORS.

On Thursday evening, Mr W. Mu; doch opened his Mayoral campaign « the Maoriland Theatre, when he a( dressed a fair attendance of elector! He received a good hearing and c the conclusion answered a number c questions. Mr F. H. Taylor pre;sidec Mr Taylor sajid that he coflsidere he had been paid a compliment 1 being asked to preside and he too the opportunity to speak very brief! oi the characteristics of. Mr MUrdoci in hi§.public actions. He had beei elected Mayor "at the inception of th BortOugh eight years ago, which posi \ tion he had retained since and ha< during that time proved himself s man with high ideals and sense of re sponsibiUties. He had worked daj / and night for the benefit Qtf the Bor ough and tts Citizens, and had gainec the respect qf the community and h( felt satisfied he would always retail it. He had always placed public dutj before public pleasure and had al ways given his time and ability to ad vance tbe Borough, "Often when nol enjoying good health. Hie had had % considerable experience on . public bodies, having represented the district on the Palmerston North Hospital Board for the past five years most worthily. He had also been instru- . mental "in forming the Mangahao Medical Association, which had proved of great benefit to the workers,- and had also been successful in securing the services of a doctor for shannon. ; He was a. true frjiend to the poor man, which could not always be said iof the chief citizen of a large town, and when need of help was required it always appealed to his high ideals, and kindness of heart. Mr Murdoch, on rising to speak, thanked the chairman for his. flattering introduction. In opening his address he said he would go back to the first meeting held twja years ago by •tiie present Council when the Council elected the committees, pointing out that he had not been elected as chairman of any. 'He next dealt with the water scheme, A lot had been said about it and there had been a lot oi criticism.". Some of these things were exaggerated. For instance, one man complained that £2OOO had been lost m wages "f'Qr the work, when as a matter of fact only £I6OO had been pa/id. The water scheme had been scientifically carried out, good water had been obtained and it had not been. an expensive one, although there might havq been some saving n the.'work had been carried out in a more methodical manner, but not a large amount. His chief complaint with the Engineer was not against the scheme but against his method in purchasing the material whach had caused delay arid a iotj of unnecessary running about for the men from- job to job. About six or seven months ago a computation of the cost had been made and he had been asked ii it was thought the work would be carried out for the original loan of £II,OOO. It had been intended to get the water from the untake but the Health Officer toad condemned it ana they had to go 30 or 4Q chains further up'stream. He then asked the Engineer and he 'said "I^o"—that they would have to get another £llOO. The speaker told the Engineer he should have told him this before. There was delay in the work and finally the Council notified the Engineer that the work was to be completed by February 20th. It was. not done. When the Council met, the Engineer stated he wanted a further £7OO .to complete and as a result his resignation followed. Notwithstanding, Shannon had a good water pressure, and compared with her neighbours was 50 per cent. better off. It had been said of himself and. the councillors that the Engineer could do as. he liked with them but that was all nonsense, the ' Council was very critical and he quoted resolutions giving the Engineer instructions. He said on one. occasion the Engineer had accused him oi stating the digging of the trenches had cost £3 per chain, but he had evidently misread the report which had appeared in the "News," as it stated distinctly that it also included laying the pipes' and fittings. Anyhow, the point was. this, it should have been dope by piece work, but it had been difficult to get any action taken to haveit done by piece work as some of. the Councillors had agreed Wth the -Engineer. "He toad e.xpert opinion as to Sost of filling dn, etc,, of the trenches, that the work should cost approximately £I4OO. It toad cost £I6OO, so thev did not have much to clamour s about. They had been successful in -retting control of the. Mangaore stream. In regard ta finance H had not always been easy. To raise the £li,ooo, they first of all got £SOOO and when they put in for the remainder the State Advances Department sun-, deiily discovered they had no more money after having pro-mused H. A, meeting of the Finance Committee decided to ask Mr Emklater to interview Mr Massey. He did so and informed the Council ttoat nothangcould -be done, but that the Public Trustee could advance the money at 6* per cent It was pointed out that the loan authorised by the ratepayers was to raise the money at ih per cent. Councillors had made different suggestions ■ and finally he took it upon "himself to interview Mr Massey and put the position before him with the result that £IOOO was advanced while accommodation for six months was obtained Srthe ba ance from the Bank oi New Zealand. By bis action the speake saved the ratepayers over £IOO pei Carter had draw his attention to the fact that four sec tions in the .borough were vebtedm the Crown and as a result thes speaker had got to work and was.success, ful. in getting them transferred to the B m oU Sgard to the Shannon-FO*ton bridge he said some two years; ago n had been pointed out to ham that tne .bridge was unsafe. He had got tne . Borough Engineer to make a report on it and what he had said had come true, He wrote to trie interested local bodies burt, got no satisfaction. The Minister of PuWc Works was interviewed by him and the danger pointed out showing that £SOOO of Government money had been put in as a sub-

sidy to the bridge and was likely u •ng \ViV» UOjuC. aHIII4I ,y lulu Ui Wie 10C.U4 UMUie.5 iUt-CiCstCu. iuu iii cuinereuee, as. uie uuixvine ux wmui . uuee .proposals were sujjiiu\,iuu iu <,ue i uuu.iicii,. who yotea vnut, a. uvw x>iiuyc • uo nutu iuruier ujj stream, mis, was wnut me iiiigweers lavumeu.. rersMiaily ne hau vote<i \m favour ui urn iJiQSeiiL sue. tits opponent nau u*-i----eu qii uie. Engineer, s opinion, me uigmvay BOaj'd now. aiaa control ui I uie iwiuge and had assessed uie uuiougiiti snare oi tiie cost ui tue pum m jciul) white the dtioruwiituiuia cuunly Council's share was £l5O, lie considered unfair as-the latter s \ uiuaypn was. twelve times tnai ui me tiocougn, Iteieiriiig tu the Mam Highway tsqard a resolution nad neen reeeiveu from the liiccartoh borougn Council asking fior the couupd's. suppuii tnai JtJOrQugiis sholUu be repreouiiieu on the lioaru the same, us cuuimes. 'me cbuncii iiad endorsed H and word had neen received uiai uie luatiei' is leceiymg cuiijiideiaivuii. lie tnougin mat borouigiis would eventually get lepiesentauon. He said tiie ijalaiice sneet ui tiie borougu for the year ending Alarcn 3ist siiuwed a credit balance of £lou which was most satisfactoiy. Tne capital value oi the' borough was £1«0,000 two years agoi and year it should be £;2oo,uuU In the future he would not favour rash borrowing, out would favour careful, borrowing us there were tilings that necesI sary. In a small borough there were not many tq bear the burden. He favoured "sewerage in «fch.e thickly populated area, but sewerage over the whole borough at the present time was out of the question as it was too scattered. He would also be m favour of new, municipal buildings with shops and Offices as the present building was decayed and unsightly. With shops and /offices rented he thought the building would be self supporting. A small loan for street and road Improvements would be favoured, by him find if they the majin road from Levin road to primmer Terrace, the Highway Board should make a grant. He was of opinion

they would ultimately ge.t it if they held out. i In conclusion he said: "There are a great many critics and some are awful liars. Some would give Ananias a start and beat him toy the length of the Straight." Whether elected or not he hoped there would be no illfeeling. His opponent and he had always been good, friends and he trusted they would remain so. He thank«d the electors for the confidence they had placed in him in the past lie assured them that if re-elected he would always give them of his best. He -then said he would be pleased to answer any questions. (Applause).

QUESTIONS. Mr Hansinann;-ls it not a fact that Cr. Hyde brought forward tne question bi new municipal buildings and you turned, it down? Mr Murdoch; 1 drew the sketch and brought it before tiie Council and tne councillors approved of it. Cr. Hyde; "Look up the minutes." Some one wanted to know, wnat the rating proposals would be per pound next year.—" That is for the incoming Council to decide." said the Mayor. Mr Hemmingseii; Is nQt the Mayor a member ex. officio, of all committees. Mr Murdoch; I said. 1 was not chairman of any of tiie committees. Mr 'bownes; In your opinion was chere any member of the Waterworks Committee who was capable of knowing nf a man. was doing a good day's work with'the pick and shovel. At this Mr Jude, who was foreman jf tiie waterworks, said the men employed were as good a gang as there vvas in the Dominion. One of. the reasons why the Labour Party d'd. not get into power was that when a, man did a good day's work they tn-ed to crush him. (Applause). Mr Downes asked for a reply to ins question. Mr Murdoch named. Cr. Gardiner. The men had been paid the.award wages and according to the minute book ' all work bar the reservoir should have been let by contract, but it was almost impossjible to let the work above the reservoir by contract owing to the rugged state of the country. No contractor would have taken, it without a chance of making a big profit. The trendies lrom \Grand Street should have been done by contract. He was opposed to pipes being laid by contract. He had written to a number of councillors to find out if the Wanganui Spiral Co.'s pipes were satisfactory and they had been quite so with the exception of one place and. then it was found the fault was not' with the. p/pes but the manner m which they had been laid. In reply to a question lie said no councillor visited the" Wanganui Pipe Co. hel ore the contract was let. It was after. Tiie contract was •given to the Wanganui Co. because they were saving £boo and it was stipulated that they w<p to send a man to put the pipes ; to-! rrether for which work they were made responsible. So it could be seen tue .Council were careful and WW, the Wanganui, Co. was a, New Zealand industry. A questioner asked if when letting thp Borough house in Stout Street \hc deposit of £lO was asked for the purpose of keeping the. workers out. Mr Murdoch; It was to protect the ratepayers. If a loss was made u wiould have to revert back to the ratepayers. Mr Harris: What amount of money has been spent'that was collected for improvements at the Recreation Grounds. Mr Murdoch: It did not go through f the Council. The chairman pointed out that Mr Murdoch was there to answer questions relative to municipal matters and would not answer questions touching on outside, affairs. ) Mr Sinclair: Does the Borougn i Council think more of the business ' area of the borough than the residential area seeing that in the former they have a 4-inch main and in the latter a one-inch and no fireplugs? 1 Mr Murdoch: If the nig main, had been carried over the whole Borough, the scheme, would have cost £BOOO or

£9OOO extra and instead of a penny, rate' it would be twopence.' A Voice: It will have to be done in time. < In reply to a question as. ta whether he favoured rating on capital or unimproved value Mr Murdoch said generally he favoured the unimproved value. ,

A questioner asked if it was. as a favour that a Borough councillor had got a two-inch water pipe in front of his place. Mr Murdoch asked the name of the councillor and said he would allow no discrimination for a councillor or anyone else. Mr Sinclair; Can you give a good reason why £2 10s is being charged for connecting. Mr Murdoch; I did not favour it when first mooted. But the councillors pointed but it would save cutting up footpaths later and -would be saving in linspectiion fees and otherwise. The money is being put into the water scheme and ratepayers are losing nothing by it. After a number of minor questions had been answered, on the motion of Mr Hemmiingson, ifconded by Mr Sinclair, a hearty vote of thanks was carried by acclamation to Mr Murdoch for his address. A vote of thanks- to the chair terminated the meeting.

"Hail Season of Mists and Maladies."—Anon. The approach of the cold days makes necessary the need for protection against chills and influenza. A bottle of Baxter's Lung Preserver is your best health insurance against all such chest, throat, and lung troubles. "Baxter's" is rich, warming, penetrative, dependable. A grand tonic too. Generous-sized bottle 2/6; family size 4/6. At all chem. ists and stores. But be sure you get "Baxter's"!

Regard infantile Paralysis as highly infectious. NAZOL kills perms in nose and throat. Mix with Olive OH for children.