Mr Fraser Taken to Task on Hospital Rating

Chronicle (Levin), 2 August 1946, Page 7

Mr Fraser Taken to Task on Hospital Rating

i WELLINGTON, Aug. 1. * ! Discussion on the reporc of the Parliamentary Committee on. Local Government, which was tabled last year, was initiated in the House of "Representatives this afternoon and will j probably extend into tomorrow. ! Mr. JR. McKeen (Wellington South) i said more than 300 local bodies placed evidence before it and that the evidence showed that local government throughout the Dominion had reached a stage pra'ctically .amounting; to chaos.. There was widespread overlapping; not ! only of boundaries but also of jurisdici tion. • '• •" ' The committee found that the Auck- '• land metropolitan area was admims ' tered by 284 councillors witli 20 oiELces- { and staffs larger than necessary. This j mstance alone showed the need. for the I amalgamation of local bodies and tliefe 1 was no justification for the existence of such multiplicity as tliat. " Mr. Clyde Carr: Christchurch is just ; as bad. | Mr. McKeen said that the Guplicatiou i of functions of local bodies had reached ! the stage whare boundaries and juris- | diction required redelining. That could not be done by the committee set up by the Government last year or by j the Parliamenlary Committee. The i committee considered that task was 1 such a large oue that it required the 1 full attention of a permanent i)ody and • reconnnended that a ('ommission be set ii j) to investigate the wliole subject. . Sonietliing had to be done concerning j local body administration in the Dominion. ] When it eame to the question of local j bodies being joalous of their own rights | and privileges, tlie Auckland local , bodies had tiie temerity to claim they were self-iroveriiinif inslitutions.

1 1 o went on to say that the committee considered that -tiie rating system—, capital value, aiinual value, uniinproved value — ought to reniain optional. If houever. it was a (juestion of adoptiug : oue svstem of rating for all local bodies in the Dominion, he would advocate the uniinproved value. Ko system was in fallible but wluitever system was adopt ed the rates produced must bear a •'* : lation to serxices given to the com munity. It had to be remembered timi ■ uuder auy system of rating the only oue who couid not pass on rates was the resi d e u f ia 1 i n di v i d ual . j Mr. McKeen deelarod there was a waste of public money in the construction of public roads'in the Dominion because of duplieation in the oporation- • of the Mai n Ilighways Board and eountv councils. Many couiity couticils had up-to-date machinery but it was not used for tlie greater part of the year. There should be closer coopera tion between then'i and Ihe Maia Iligh ' ways Board and eountv councils could l • coiist ruct State highways and maintain j i them themselves. I Tbere were more than 700 local | bodies in New Zealand, continued Mr. j ; McKeen, and tbe Committee thouglit i the number should be reduced. The : numher of county councils should also he reduced and their powers extended. All local hodies which gave evidence ; concerning •hQSpAtaB A'ftwrg, found „thbJ a very sore point. The committee 's l recommendation was that the problem 1 should he faced hy stahilising hospitai rating. The numher of hospital dis- ' t.ricts could he reduced and an outstanding example was in North Auckland where there were ahout six small hospital districts, practically none of them giving a full merlical service. He said it was considered they should conic 1 under the jurisdiction of a permanent Local Government Cominission which

should be set up to deal with tlie wliole question. ' " Mr. W. J. Polson (Stratford) said a system of .local government in our community had been evolved "vyhicli uas peculiar lo our British wav of lit'e aua thouglit, and it was a very importaut part of the eeonomy of the country. The aini of the Gonimittce had- been not to create any feeiing that prerogatives were to be takcn. away from those controlling Tocal government, but iatlier to protoct' and assist them in their wofk.- • ; •' :• It was an important achievement that a committee of if men representing both sides of the House, had been able to put party politics cofripietely aside and out of their own experience oi local government, to bring down a unanimous report. Of course some compromise had heen necessary to achieve that but Parliament itself, on occasions had to devise, compromises to meet particular situations in local govern raent. Mr. Polson said he condemned the Prime Minister's attitude in regard to hospital rating, which amounted to a slap in the face for the • committee on which eight Government members sat ! and which was unanimous in reachmg a ' decision to relieve the , burden of 1 hospital rating. What the committee j recomniended was the remedying of an j injustice and not the. creation of oue. | The Prime Minister had said the j committee was creating an injustice to ! the community hy suggesting that tlie i additional burden should be removed. ' The recommendation of the committee J meant, in the aggregate, a.reduction* of 40 per cent. on the levies for 1944-45. Mr. 8. \V. Smith (Bay of Islands) said the report was unanimous so .far

as Ihe major reeommciulations were coneerned, witliout party politics entering any of the clisciissions. The costs i of* local body administration had beeq rising in recent years, as was inevit-J able, but Government assistanee had lagged sadly behind. The need for thcj i-elief of overburdened counties wasj urgent, particularlv in regard to hospi-j 'tui taxation. He " hoped this sessioni would see a Bill iiitrodueed giving! effect to the eomniittee 's recommendat ions. i Mr. J. N. Massey (FranlGin) said members of local authorities from oue end of Kew Zealand to tlie other wero domauding that the Government should give eirect to tlie Committee 's reconiinendations, yet the Prime Minister had. recent ly reiterated that_ the Governn tent 's policy was against removing; hospital taxation from the wealthy; landowners. The apj'ointment of Par-i liamentary Committees by the present Government was a farce. The Committee, which was tlie author of this re- j' port, spent nearly 1- nionths doing its 1 work yet the Prime Mhiister had de-

cbired that, on an n ip'.vrtant point, ine Goveninient 's policy was opposed to that recomniended by the Committee. M r. Massey said tluit',: while he supported tlie' Committee's rccommendations for stabilisiug hospital rating at tlie 1938 level, he personally would. go further and remove the hospital tax altogether from tlie land m nd have it financed out of thy (Ipyisolidated Pund. | liospitkl' rating^.htld increased 40 per, I cent. sinee 1988. ■ ! Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer said the Cpm-| mittee did not-recommend the aholition; | of the hospital rate -but reconnnended | | that the Government* should examine , the possihility of lowering the maxi- ( ; mum amount with a view to the ultiI mate extinction of a levy for hpspital , I purposes, from rates, ,,He said, on heI half of thq Government, that it was not , | in f avour of the ultihiate aholition of : the hospital rate. j Beferriug to tlie recommendation; tliat the hospital luv,y be at the ratej per pound of capital value of tlie years: I 1 985-80 to 1938-39, the Minister said! | that il' that were dome, it would moair, j a ratepayer in Opotiki wonld pav .237d ' in Ihe pound and a ratepayer at Grey 1 ] .094(1. If the recommendation were | given effect to, it, meant stabilisiug a ! lack of uniformity whicli had been only' too appareut in liospitul finance for years — or stabilisiug instability. HeJ ; thouglit that however near tlie Coru-J : niittee may have come to solving tliei | problem, it would be unwise for tlie i Goverinueiit to do whai tlie Committee ' suggested. What there should be was, • stability whicli represented a uniforml rate throughout Ihe Dominion as aj 1 wliole. It had always soemed to hini| i l'uiidameiitally wrong that, for the samei i service, ratepavers should have to payj ; at (lifferent levels according to tlie part i of tlie country in which they resided. j ! These differences were not wholJy ac- ! counted for by differing standards of ; valuation employod. The House should consif.er stabilis- 1 ing hospital rates at a uniform level i throughout the Dominion. If this were] done it would have the a-dvantage ofj iacilitating the amalgamation of hos- i pitai- board districts whicli had been j recomniended hy the Committee. The » establishment of a uniform ratej throughout the country might have thej effect of reducing the amount some ratepaycrs would have to pay but j others might find that their rates, plus their added contribution to the Consolidated Fund, would amount to more than their present rates. Opposition voices: What is wrong with that? Mr. Nordmeyer said it was true that hospital treatment was not strictlyj free but that also applied to education! and other services we were accus- ! tomed to describe as free. Whatever was done in the way of stahilising hospital rating, the Government did not agree that the extra burden should he thrown on to the Social Security Fund. The Government would not countenance any proposal having that effect. Whatever ease ihero might be for stabilisation or for establishing uniform rating, it must be recognised that tlie (lifference must be made up from the Consolidated Fund and not from social security taxation. If hospital rating were stabilised tlien some means must be t'ound of ensuring that Hospital Boards kept within reasonable limits in their demands for both capital and maintenance exiienditure. Hosjiital Boards varied innnensely in their efiiciency of administration and it would be wrong to allow boards an un- ; restrieted riglit to impose expenditure : njion the (Tovernment.