TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3134, 14 July 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1881.

Sir Geobge Gbet has characterised tbe local government proposals of the Ministry as lame and impotent, and when a comparison is drawn between that which is proposed by Ministers and the opinion of Sir George Grey as to what really constitutes local government no other conclusion can be arrived at. If anything were wanting to show how utterly blind the Ministry are to the wants of the country it would be the proposals brought down Major Atkinson with respect to local government. The Honorable the Colonial Treasurer has stated it as bis opinion that this question has been raised in the House rather than in tbe country. Such an expression is the more extraordinary coming aa it did from a Minister who, at the time, was addressing the House of Representatives. The members of that House are supposed to, and in the majority of cases actually do, represent the opinion of the country, and whatever questions they take up have, as a rule, been suggested to them through the received channels of public opinion. In this case of local government the question has been forced on the people by the ever-increasing cost of government from a centre. If for no other reason public attention would have been directed to the subject with a view to devise a less extravagant system. Naturally then the minds of the people reverted to those governmental institutions that formerly prevailed, and a

comparison between that which tbey have and that which has h. j en abolished was all in favor of the latter. Ministers are under the that the term " local government" signifies road making and the management of roads, and nothing more. They did think, up till the moment Sir George and Mr Ormond raised their voices, that centralism was beloved by the people, and that the people preferred to see all their local institutions managed by Government nominees. Now that tbe storm is breaking over the heads of the Cabinet, Ministers are inclined to think that the duties of Waste Lands Boards should be relegated to County Councils. But, true to centralism, they propose to grant facilities for the merging of Road Boards in County Councils, which is just the very reverse of what is wanted. The Road Boards want protection against tbe greed for power and the maladministration of the Council*. Sir George Grey has struck the key-note. The most statesman-like speeches that he bas uttered have been in defence of provincialism when that institution was being abandoned, and in favor of local government now that it is endeavored to strengthen centralism. The debate on local government has been adjourned till next Tuesday, by which date Sir George Grey's bill will be printed. The two rival sc 1 ernes will then be before the House and country, and it will be surprising if there is any hesitation as to which will be the most acceptable to the colony.