The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1882. THE MEETING AT THE HILL TOP.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 625, 11 July 1882, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1882. THE MEETING AT THE HILL TOP.

Next Saturday is the day appointed for the meeting of the representatives of the County Council and Road Boards, to consider the circular sent round by the Government, asking for suggestions ! regarding local government matters. Wβ see by our Wellington news that some two hundred local bodies have already sent in their opinions, and that these opinions are of an exceedingly varied character, biit that all agree on one point, and that is, that considerable grants are needed to enable them to properly carry out their functions ; and we have not tne shadow of a doubt that, however our own meeting may differ in other points they will igree in this one. Funds are as much needed for the completion of the roads on the Peninsula as for the completion of railways elsewhere. A denizen of the plains would be astonished indeed if he rode along one of our highways,—the Long Bay track for instance—and discovered that it abruptly ended in a sort of fertile desert. On the plains road making is, in the majority of cases, very easy. It is only to plough up the sides of the road and throw the stuffinto the middle ; and it is an accomplished fact, the ehingle in most instances being only too haniy. Here, however, making a road means heavy cuttings, expensive blast-

ing, danger from slips, the construction of numberless culverts, and the careful study of gradients. Of course we do not mean to say that this is any new intelligence, it is one of those things that every one knows here ; but we think that the meeting should nevertheless point out these things very strongly in i any representation that may be made to Government, for we are sorry to say that there are many representatives in the Hou-e, who have not made New Zealand geography their particular study, and will very likely imagine that being part of Canterbury we must be level country, the very idea being that Canterbury is a big flat. There is little doubt that the vexed question as to the necessity of two rating bodies existing will be raised. We have before stated our opinion that, with certain modifications, the present system should continue, for we cmnot see any advantage would accrue if either County Councils or .Road Boards were done away with, and their functions appear to us to be entirely distinct. We are certain of one thing, and that is, that if the Road Boards were abolished, there would be an outcry fro n every Bay on the Peninsula before many months were passed, and some ward system would have to be established, and local committees appointel to see after their own particular districts, We see that in a large Road Board like Little Uivtu , , where there are two distinct kinds of country —the Busii and the Plains—that there is continual trouble from the diversity of interests ; and fancy how this would be intensified if one ceutral body were to have all the varied wants of the whole Peninsula to satisfy! We deny altoget -er that placing the whole business Iα the hands of the County Council would be an economical proceeding. A very expensive staff would have to be maintained, and from every part of the district would come cries for help. The object of each locality would then be, not to spend its rates as economically as possible, but to pluuge its hands as deeply as it could into the public purse. Bill, who, under the present system, will m.ike the road to his own section at a rate that would not pay any ordinary contractor, because he knows the actual rates that pay for it come out of his own pocket, would scorn to do a similar thing for ti great body like the County Council, with all the funds in the county at their disposal; and as to replacing a plank on a bridge, or clearing out a gutter to save probable expense, as he does now, why, we can fancy him saying, " What's all them county men kept for ?" No big central body could ever spend the rates raised in a certain locality so well as the residents in that locality, who have studied for years its peculiar wants ; and therefore we say, let the lioad Boards remain. But there is one thing of which we should like to speak particularly, and that is, the repugnance manifested by many or the leading men in the county to become numbers of lload Boards. They will be members of the County Couucil fast enough, but they stand aloof from doing district work, and laugh at the struggles of men totally unfitted for the position, who have only been elected because they themselves have not come forward. Every man who lives in a district has a duty to perform towards it, and the larger his; interest and the greater his knowledge, the more urgent that duty becomes. We should like to see the Road Boards made a necessary step to the County Council, that is, to let each'f itoad Board elect one or two members, as tlie case might be, to represent them in the' Council. This would, we think, have J a beneficial effect, because it would force the best men in each district to be members of the Road Boards, and help iv the conduct of local affairs, if they wanted to be members of the County Council; and it would make the ratepayers more careful as to whom they selected to sit on the Road Boards, as they might be electing a County Councillor also. Besides, by this system, a good deal of the much talked of expenses of elections would be avoided, as the Road Board members would elect the County Councillors from amongst themselves by ballot, without any cost at all to the community. As to doing away with the County Council, the idea is absurd, and not worthy a second thought. There must be a central body to represent the general interests, and as to the uses of that body, we cannot do better than quote again what we have said beforeas to its duties, viz,:—" First. The unceasing and untiring advocacy with the Government of great public works affecting tho whole county, such as the drainage of Lake Ellesmere and the Little River Railway. Second. Enquiry and discussion on all matters affecting the general good of the county. Third. The settlement of any differences between the Road Boards, and a general supervision of all the more important wurks undeitaken by them. Fourth. Holding communication with other County Councils in the Canterbury Provincial District, and combining with them in taking action for the general good of the said district. Fifth. Never ceasing to point out the resources and great natural advantages of the county, and advocating with untiring energy her just claims upon the public purse." Our idea is that, with a little management, the present system of the dual bodies could be made the most economical possible. If the County Council, as we suggested long ago, aud shall always continue to urge, employed a compete t surveyor, at £300 or £400* a year, to look after the works in progress in the various lioad Board districts, the

Boards would be able to dispense with the expenses of employing other surveyors' aid, and would at the same time be sure that their works were being properly constructed. The legal expenses, too, incurred by these various bodies are by no means trifling, and we should suggest a County Solicitor should be appointed, at a fixed annual salary, each Board and the County contributing its quota. Cordial relations between the County Council and the Road Boards are most necessary for the good government ot the County, and it should be the endeavor of each to support the other, instead ot nourishing opposition. We' believe that Parliament will be liberal in their grants to local bodies this session, and we hope that all will strive to spend the money placed at their disposal to the best public advantage.