The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Pravalebit. TUESDAY, MAY, 11, 1886. THE W A RD SYSTEM.
A majority of the ratepayers in almost every Road District in this county have expressed themselves as favorable to the “ Ward system,” /.A, the subdivision ol Road Districts into well-defined wards, and the expenditure of rates upon works in the localities from which they arc raised. The principle of this allocation is dearly an equitable one, but in practice it presents many difficulties of a singularly complicated nature. It is a simple matter to parcel out a Road District into a number of wards, and say that each division shall receive works to the extent of its contribution to the general fund. In practice, however, we find the admission of the principle is seldom followed by an exactly proportionate distribution of the rales. Indeed, it has been found practically impossible, where the system is adopted, to maintain a precise correspondence between the income and expenditure of the various wards. In one ward the revenue is in excess of requirements, and in another a large part of the* expenditure is made out of loan. As a consequence an elaborate system of account-keeping is necessary, and after all, in spite of every possible safeguard, one or more wards of a majority of these sub-divided districts bear a considerable burden of debt. But notwithstanding these difficulties very much may be said in favor of the system. For .several obvious reasons it is desirable that the expenditure in each district should be approximately adjusted to its income. Log-rolling is not confined to the precincts of our Parliamentary buildings, and it is just as well that members ofourßoad Boards should be placed above suspicion in
the allocation of local funds. The system ensures something like a fair distribution ot works, and furnishes some protection to the interests of minorities. That it might be made more effectual and more beneficial in its operation we are free to admit; but the reform required is rather one of administration than one of principle. The members of several Road Hoards within our own district have laid down hard and fast ane arbilary lines of division which ara found to operate unfairly towards e certain section of the ratepayers. We may instance the division of the Wakanui Road District. The maintenance of a considerable section of the Beach road, the principal thoroughfare in the district, is made a charge upon No. i Ward, which includes Trevorton Hampstead, and Netherby; while nearly all the traffic on that road, we might say all the heavy and wearing traffic, is supplied by No. 2 Ward. This means, of course, that the ratepayers of Netherby and Hampstead, who barely use the road at all, and the ratepayers of Trevorton, who contribute very little towards the traffic on the road, expend a large proportion of their revenue upon work which should, in fairness, be made a charge against the settlers of Wakanui. The fact is the members of this Board have adhered too rigidly to the ward system ; in their desire to localise the expenditure of rates, they have lost sight of nice points of equity and have created a good deal of wellgrounded dissatisfaction with thesystem. But these anomalies are not necessary parts of the system. The Counties Act Amendment Act of last session makes provision for the subdivision of counties into ridings for the purposes of finance, but it also sets out that certain undertakings shall be regarded as county works, and paid for from general funds. As these modifications of the system remove all its objectionable features, wc have quoted them in extenso in another part of this issue, for the information of those interested in this important question. We particularly commend them to the attention of our Road Boards, and would suggest that they should be made applicable to the Ward system generally.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1413, 11 May 1886, Page 2
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649The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas Et Pravalebit. TUESDAY, MAY, 11, 1886. THE WARD SYSTEM. Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1413, 11 May 1886, Page 2
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