LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2827, 19 July 1916, Page 6

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

THE NEED FOR REFORM. Local government is referred to in the annual report of the Internal. Aflairs Department, presented to tho House last night. The report says:— "It has boon recognised for some years that the administrative cost of local government generally should bo reduced. The-war has made this a necessity. The finances of tho Dominion cannot, be allowed to suffer .b.V the diversion of money to a channel that is already, in a manner of speaking, full to overflowing. At tho 6ame time the legitimate and necessary expansion of local government to meet local'communal needs as they arise must be provided for. Tho restriction of the one, while providing the necessary powers for the other, is a task that cannot lie accomplished at once, and yet its consummation can be hastened by a study of the whole question now, with a view to legislation when tho opportuno time arrives. "A casual study of the local Acts of Parliament during the past few years, of the resolutions forwarded from the Municipal Conference, and of the difficulties . that in actual practice confront them, reveals tho undoubted fact that even at present tho needs of the tonicities at least aro not only of a different nature from those of other boroughs, but, further, that the present legislation governing their activities—particularly the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, which is the foundation of their existence—does not adequately endow them with powers. So long as the statute law of the Dominion does not distinguish them other than by conferring on them the at present empty title of 'city,' so long must their future progress bo ham-, pered. "Requests aro constantly made fur amendments of the Municipal Corporations and other Acts which, while at least desirable for the cities and larger lwroughs, should not be granted to smaller .boroughs. Even the machinery of the local Bill as a means of widening their powers, can, I think, be proved to bo ultimately a hindrance rather than a help. The needs of each, moreover, are so particularly and peculiarly individual that I doubt whether ono Act dealing with the four of .them would be sufficient. Each one of them needs special legislation, which in one case at least must make provision for metropolitan areas Ircyoiul the city proper. "Here again is a matter that docs not admit of undue haste. Special study extending, may be, over some years will )x> necessary, but this study cannot be started too noon. Undue delay, on the other hand, will operate against the consummation of any scheme, for the suburban areas will in a tew years be so. heavily rated for purely local needs by small,local bodies as to make the necessary operations of the metropolitan body an almost unbearable, burden. In particular, as the cities and secondary centres of tho Dominion extend, the want of a town-planning scheme becomes increasingly evident. The immediate suburbs and out-districts of to-day will in tho not-distant future become parts of cities and towns, Rnd provision should now be made that in cutting up lands for 6alc as residential sites tlie necessities of drainage, water-supply, school sites, recreation. reserves, and sites for Stato requirements should be considered. "The local government question generally, apart from the special case of the oitics, has received considerable attention in the past. It has been the subject of Bills and a conferenco of local bodies—that convened in 1312. Opinion is alive to the necessity for new methods and the .necessity for better provision being mado for the amalgamation of existing local authorities, and, above all, for the codification and simplification of the entire law dealing with local government, which is now spread over so many different Acts.