COUNTY CONGRESS

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1833, 20 August 1913, Page 5

COUNTY CONGRESS

SITTINGS OPENED.

STATE & LOCAL CONTROLS. MINISTER'S REMARKS. COMING BILL MENTIONED. There was a representative assembly of delegates ..appointed .by the local authorities at tho .ninth annual'conference of the New.- Zealand Counties' Association, which opened yesterday morning in St. Paul's Schoolroom, Sydney Street, "Wellington. Mr. "A. E. Jull (Waipawa), who has been president' for the past nine years, occupied the chair, and was supported by the" following members of the executive:—Messrs. J. G. Wilson (Bulls), E J. Harper (Ashburton), IV Best (Appleby, Nelson), D. Borrie (Papakaio), R. Bould (Johnsonville), J, D. Bruce (AkaTOa), T. M. Chambers (Havelock North), J. H. Davjson (Culverden), T. W.-Dulf (Hokitika), H. Ci. Middlcton. (Waimahaka); A. D. M'Leod (Mortinborough), C. r>.' Orbell (Levels), and W. Ritchie (Westmere), with' Mr. H. J. Richards (lion, treasurer), and Mr. H. D. Atkinson (secretaiy). Over'7o local authorities in the North Island sjnd in in the South Island had appointed delegates to the conference, end most of these answered the roll-call, there, being seven M.P.'s present. ; THE PRESIDENT. • SUMMARY 01? THE ADDRESS. : The president, in tyio course of o. lengthy and well-considered address, commenced by remarking that they were glad to be able to offer tho conference congratulations to two-of their oldest vice-presidents ■ (Messrs. W. Fraser and F. W. Lang) on their well-earned official promotion, the first as Minister for Public Works and tho latter as. Speaker of tho -House. Urgent demands 'had been made upon the Government of tho da'y to formulate a comprehensive scheme of local 'govern-, ment reform, and' at the last- conference they passed the following resolution:— 1 "That steps bo taken by each county council to obtain a. pledge from every candidate for Parliament, that they will do all in their power to bring pressure to bear upon whatever Government happens to be in power to introduce during the first session of tho new Parliament a comprehensive Local Governments Bill."

Sir J. G.. "Ward, in tho following session (1912) introduced a Local Government j ßill ond when he. went out of office tho 'Mackenzie Government took up his Bill , and called a conference of representatives of all tho local bodies of tho Dominion ' which met 'in Hay,' 1912. Tho basis of the proposed Bill was the sitting up of . a local Government Board and Provin- , cial. Councils which .latter would absorb Education, Harbour, ond • Hospital Boards. It was also proposed to abolish road boards, but retain county councils. •An original idea for payment of subsidy ,wa? suggested, based on the value per square mile. The conference was opposed to the main features of- tho Bill, but tho various proposals were well discussed,_ and resolutions carried, giving some indication of the general opinion . of the conference. Another Bill was in- , troducd by Mr. G. W. Russell, based largely on the recommendations of the previous conference, and was, therefore, entitled to consideration. That Bill, was ; not as ambitious as the previous Bill, but it offered a more reasonable basis for discussion than many previous attempts to , improve our local government: system. , Main Roads and Dual Control. !, ■ The,-conference would again be .asked to considor another form of dual control-*-that is, tho control by the Government of tho main' roads of tho Dominion, which he trusted .would: liave f.careful ■ considera- 1 tion. The roads which were carrying tho ;bulk of the produce of tho country were frequently not the_ main arterial roads, but the demands being made for improved ■ methods of.transportation 'made it more necessary for tho roads feeding the railways .-to be well constructed and maintained.' ■ The Shires in New South Wales. Passing ,on to the other matters, the ; chairman said that the essonco of the ■ system of endowment in New South Wales

-was the classification of the shires on the lines suggested by the Bill introduced at the last session. Local government by shires in New South Wales had only been in force for a few years. ; -The Act of 1906 made provision for sotting aside' .£150,000 a year as an endowment. That was found to ba quite inadequate, and was increased to £100,000, not statutorily, but by vote. Tho basis of the endowment was the differenco between tho amount realised by a' penny rate on the unimproved value of a sliire, and the amount spent rn tho same area by the State for the triennial period prior'to the inception : of: local government. Last year an effort was made by the New South Wales Government to pass a Main Rodds Bill, and •to take. >6250,000 from the shires endowment for exponditnrer on main roads on tho plea- that they, were being neglected" by the shires. The Bill,'owing to the ' opposition of the shires, was defeated by two votes. ; In the meantime, the Minister... had appointed an officer and handed him all power to allocate tho .£250,000 to shires and municipalities. The shires were apparently losing .£50,000 on that deal, and in addition seemed very dissatisfied with the modus • operandi of the allocation of the main, road,vote. ' So far as shires were concerned in New South. Whiles. there did not exist any'provision for.raising, money by. loans for roads and bridges. _ They had a scheduled mileage in the shires of G7,500 miles, of which only;

10,500 .miles were metalled, 7500 miles wero. formed only, 18,750 were cleared only, whilo 30,650 miles were still in their natural state. They had an officer in charge of local government, called tho Assistant. Under-Secretary of. Public Works, but. the shires were asking that local government be made a. Department by itself. ; An Old Age Fund. A'matter which he had felt for some years to be worthy of more than the passing of pious resolutions was the question of superanhuation for local bodies' employees." At the last conference a resolution was carried, and he commended it again to their notice, with an addition that the association empower the executive to consult with the Municipal Association, the Harbour Board Association, and tho leading hospital boards, with the view of formulating a scheme somewhat on the lines laid down last year, although there did not seem much likelihood of many ■local"bodies acting on tho powers already conferred by the Local Authorities Superannuation Act. State and Local Authority. In conclusion, tho president said that he had every confidence that as time went on they would find that many of tho functions now exercised by tile general • Government would be more satisfactorily carried out by-local- authorities, whose members would be selected because of their ability and , capacity to administer the affairs of an enlarged local government.