MUNICIPAL REFORM

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1748, 13 May 1913, Page 4

MUNICIPAL REFORM

Trap arc certain ■ directions in which some improvement could lie made in our municipal system without any great inconvenience to anyone. Two of them relate to the Mayoral office and to the constitution and term of office of the City Councils in the four chief centres of population; and possibly also in some of the larger towns outside those centres. At the present time the Mayors of the various boroughs throughout Now Zealand are elected for ;u term of one year, while councillors arc elected for two years. The change which we suggest is that the Mayors of Auckland, Wellington, Chr.istcluirch, and Dunedin at least should be elected for a term of two years, and the city councillors of the cities named for a period of- three years, one-third of the councillors to rfctire every year and an election to he held each year to fill the vacancies thus caused. That the Mayor should hold office for one year only is a very old rule, borrowed from England, whore it still holds good. No one denies that the present rule has been a success in the past. But it has been so mainly because tho conditions that exist, or are rapidly coming into existence now, did not exist then. With smaller populations, and the comparatively modest scope of municipal activities, it did not take tho average Mayor long to master his duties. It is different today, and this _ the large cities at Home are beginning to realise. In other days, few . municipal schemes took more than a year to begin and complete. With the enormous growth of municipal activities, both in size and number, the very reverse is now the case. Few of tho great modern schemes can bo begun and finally completed in one year, or even two years, but they can in two years have the principles on which they are to be carried out firmly established. In these things, .continuity of policy is, above all things, desirable. It is, then, because of the greater size, greater complexity, and greater number of these schemes and the working thereof that twelve months does not now enable a Mayor to become thoroughly acquainted with all the problems that lie has to handle, lie is just becoming so acquainted when his year of office is ending. And tlien, perhaps, he retires, or fails to secure rc-ck'ntton. There seem tn be good grounds for believing that a large municipality _ will gain by granting a longer minimum leiiure'ol office to ijs chief ( magistrate. Our second point is supp irled by much the snme line of reasoning as I lie lirsl. It may alnar-t be said that. I hey must stand or fall together, Willi large enlerpriVs cuiiloillplalrri nr ill prongs i'f rumple. lioa. it is unsound business to run i

the risk of a sudden large influx off untried men into a corporation. Many of them, too, are apt to bo tied by platform pledges given in moments of "greater freedom aucl less responsibility,'' without serious knowledge of the subject; and pledges are like chickens, curses, and Judges' nhilrr thrlti. No private concern willingly runs the risk of a wholesale change of staff annually or biennially. It absorbs cadets from time to time, leaving if to the older hands to break in tiie_ new "lies to (lie conditions governing the coneerirs business. And so it- should be with all large municipalities. As at Home, give the doctors an annual opportunity of introducing sr.mic fresh blood, and thereby, in sonic cases, issue warning to the older members that they are misconstruing or exceeding the mandate. The amendment of the law necessary to bring about these changes would present no difficulties.