The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3030, 12 March 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 1881.

Mr Ormond last session gave expression to public opinion when he said the colony was not satisfied with the substitute that had been given to provincialism. The county system of local government that was hurriedly forced upon the country was regarded even by abolitionists as only tentative until time should discover the amendments which might be found necessary. For the last four years it had been expected of Parliament that increased powers would be granted to County Councils by which they might be able to deal with these matters that have intimate relation to the settlement of the country. The County Council of Hawke's Bay is scarcely in a position to appreciate the difficulties surroanding those Councils which have in their jurisdiction large areas of waste and partially settled lands. It is, therefore, those counties that have such difficulties to deal with to which we must look for suggestions for the amendment of the Local Government Acts. Tho County of Wairoa, for instance, that has within its borders a very large extent of Crown lands, has found settlement paralysed through its inability to opeu up by roads the country for sale by the Government. The County of Manawatu has found itself also in much the same noeitioti; and the Councils of both those

counties have accordingly turned their attention to tbe nvaus whrrchy the difficulties they have to encounter can best be overcome. Tue other eLy we meat : oned that the Msnaw.tu Council proposed a conference of the representatives of local governing bodies, and, perhaps, no better pkn could be devised for bringing under tbe notice of Parliament the nature of the reforms required, and we now append the following resolutions passed by that Council, which have been erabodied in a circular and forwarded to the several local bodies of the colony : —

1. That in selling any new block of Crown Land an estimate should be made of the sum per acre required to complete all the roads within such block, and that as land h sold for eaihjsuch sum he handed over to the County Council of the district within whicii the block is situated for expenditure solely on roads within the block sold ; and that the Government, if necessary for financial reasons, should add to the upset price of the land the amount required for road-making, and guarantee to purchasers that the money so allotted should be spt-nt on the roads in the block by the County Council within three years from the sale, and that the money as received should be at once handed over to the County Council; that with the deferred payment land the whole of the halfver-ly instalments should be handed over to the County Council for road-making purposes within the block until ono-third of the purchase-money is paid over, as in the original Land Act, 1871, clause 59.

2. That the Government should either apportion a sum equal to the amount that would have been payable to Counties and Highways Districts for subsidy on the rates actually collected during the year 1879-80 under "The Financial Arrangements Act 1876 " at the rate of so much per mile on the mileage of competed roads under the jurisdiction of each County Council and Highway Board, such subsidy to be applied to the construction of new roads only, and to ceo se when all the roads within any district or county were completed j or that; an estimate should be made of the total cost of completion of all uncompleted roads already surveyed within the colony, and that an amount per mile should be paid annually to each body having the control of such roads, the total of which should be equal to the sum that would have been payable in the shape of subsidy to the County Council and Highways Board on the rate actually collected during the year under " Tho Financial Arrangement Act, 1876."

3. That either by reduction of the exemption on the Property Tax to say £100, by the imposition of school fees on all scholars attending State Schools who have passed Standard, by the increase of the beer duty to 6d per gallon, and by the reimposition of the tea and sugar duties, the necessary funds might be easily provided without practically adding to the burdens of the country, as the money spent in road construction would promote the settlement and progress of the country to such an extent that both town and country districts would be equally benefited.

4. That a subsidy on the rates collected be paid to all Borough Councils or Boards having the exclusive management of townships, the amount to be fixed by the conference hereafter proposed.

5. That if any land endowments were given to public bodies within the colony, such land ought not to be exempted from the deductions made for roadwork asked for in clause I, and that any local body should have at its option power to commute its subsidy on a scale to be fixed for an endowment of land.

6. That a conference of delegates from County Councils, Highway Boards, and Borough Councils, should meet at Wellington before the session, on the first Wednesday in May next; place of meeting &c. to be arranged.

7. That no delegate is to be considered to be bound by any or all of the terms of this circular unless by instruction from the body he represents, and that the mere sending a delegate should not be considered as an acceptance of the local body of tho terms of this circular.

8. That " The Rating Act, 1876," should be so amended as to enable valuations to bo made once in three years, and by the County Council of the district only, which body should have power to adjust the valuation list annually in cases where change of ownership or omission in the valuation list rendered such adjustments necessary ; Boroughs to make their own valuation list as at present.