A SILENT COUNCIL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 645, 23 April 1929, Page 7

A SILENT COUNCIL

“SPIRIT WILLING, BUT INTELLECT WEAK’’ MR. LUNDON’S ADDRESS “Why do the sitting councillors not i come before you on the public plat- ! form to give you an account of their stewardship? Is it only because the spirit is willing but the intellect is weak? Or is it because they are diffident and modest? ’Sleep. perfect sleep,’ is their slogan.” Such was the question asked by Mr. J. R. Lundon, who. as a candidate for a seat on the Auckland City Council, j addressed a large audience in the Town i Hall concert chamber last evening. Ml. ; W. H. Murray was chairman, and Mr. H. P. Taylor was on the stage. During a prolonged address m which the speaker fiercely attacked the au- ' ministration of the present council, lie i referred to himself as “Horutius at the i bridge,” and to himself, Mr. Murray j and Mr. Taylor as “The Three Mus- ! keteers.” The speaker was accorded j an attentive hearing, percolated by j gusts of laughter as he drove his 1 points home. “You people are the arbiters of the j fate of some 67 more or less nonde- i scripts—you are to decide who will ! be the men to build your political j city,” said Mr. Lundon. “I may say I am also standing for the Hospital Board, where you find all the ancients of early days. 1 am a candidate for the Auckland Harbour Board, that J wonderful place where all the business ; is done in the sacred cloister of committee. Large sums of money are wasted there, and it is about time we had a change. “As to the City Council, I want to ask what the curios who sit there have , done. They won’t come out and tell you. 1 plead with you to make a clean sweep of them on May 1.” The speaker then referred to a Sun editorial dealing with the City Council. “You can always depend on a fair and accurate survey by The Sun. It does not suppress, ditsort, or misreport a man’s views,” said Mr. Lundon. He proceeded to read the clipping which took the council to task. “Mr. Baildon, speaking at Grey Lynn j the other night, said he was out of his j field in dealing with finance. He was, too, Out of the £710,000 loan raised years ago for the completion of streets, he has succeeded in frittering away £450,000 on secondary streets,” remarked the speaker. The balance shown at last Thursday’s meeting of the council was £10,116 4s lOd. The loan had not : lasted the five years it was supposed to, and 65 streets were as yet untouched. while it would still take £150,000 to make the other streets presentable. There was still a balance of £242,183 15s 2d to be accounted for, as could be seen by a simple process of reasoning. “We don’t sing, ‘Where is My Wandering Boy To-night, ” said Mr. Lundon, “but we do sing ‘Where are Those 242,183 little golden ducats? vv here are they?’ „ ~ “The council won't say, continued the speaker. “They won’t speak. They never do. You can’t get a word out of them. RATES AND TRAM FARES In the first 70 streets the council had overspent £ 54,000 by taking from some streets and adding to others, m spite of the promise given to Sir James Gunson when he was in office. In addition, an*extra 10 per cent, had been raised through the Bocal Bodies Loan Board as allowed by law without going to the ratepayers, which brought the loan up to £781,000. “According to the year book the public indebtedness of this city is now £7,377,198 19s 4d,” said the speaker. “That’s all you have to pay for the errors of the past and the present.” “The City Council has performed, a neat little operation in getting rid of the tramways and handing them over to itself under the new name of the Auckland Transport Board. Now they can raise a £638,000 loan to extend lines that should have been extended years ago. They have hired a mud flat from the Harbour Board at a cost of £146,000. Of course, Mr. Allum tells the ratepayers they are not paying anything in taxes for the tram. No, Mr. Allum is right. He doesn t worry, but simply takes it off you when you get on the trams.” Mr. Lundon dealt with the increases in valuation in the city, and supply of metal for the streets. ‘I want an inquiry held, he declared “Then I will produce evidence that will show things up and surprise the After a speech lasting two and threequarter hours, Mr. Lundon promised to continue his criticism next Monday evening in the same place. Many questions were asked and answered, and confidence was expressed in the candidate.