The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 771, 9 December 1876, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1876.

The time is now fast approaching for the practical introduction of the County system, and the Government has settled that the elections of the Councils shall take place in a few days. With the incoming year will be ushered in the new form of government adopted last session, when it is expected that every detail of its machinery shall be in complete working order. Not a moment appears to have been lost since the Assembly was prorogued; the boundaries of the Counties and of the Eidings into which they are subdivided have been defined and mapped out, and the dates of the elections duly fixed. Friday, the 22nd December, has been decided by the Governor as the day on which the poll shall take place throughout the Provincial District of Canterbury, and the vai’ious Eeturning Officers have issued the notice under the new Elections Act, stating the day when the nomination of candidates for political honors must be forwarded to them. For the County of Selwyn —a large and important portion of which is co-terminous with the Christchurch Belts eight Eidings have been

gazetted, each returning one member for its Council. Their names and the dates at which the nomination of candidates for election must respectively be sent, are as follows : —Avon, 13th ; Coleridge, 14th ; Courtenay, 14th ; Ellesmere, I3th; Heathcote, 18th ; Lincoln, 15th; Mavern, 14th ; and Upper Waimakariri,l3th. In the caseof the Avon and the Heathcote Ridings—two of the most influential portions of the county—the old schoolroom at Papanui for the first, and the Road Board office at the Ferry road for the second, have been selected as the locale where the Returning Officers of each will transact the duties devolving upon them, either before or on the pollingday. Every person entitled to vote at Road Board, elections, or at the election of members of the House of Representatives, is qualified for the county franchise. The nomination will have to be made in writing, to be signed by tvro electors as well as by the candidate, and to delivered to the Returning Officer before noon on the days named above. As the Counties Act is, to a certain extent, a permissive measure, and as the first question which the Councils will have to decide is that of determining whether they will take advantage of the permissive clause or not, it will be well if the opinion of candidates be obtained on the subject, while they are before the electors. This is a most important element in the new system, and one which opens up a very large field for argument. In various parts of the colony, opinions are divided on the subject. The newly-appointed Post-master-General, Mr. Ormond, has already expressed himself strongly on the subject, when advising his constituency in Hawke’s Bay. When explaining to them the details of the County system, which is to work with and supplement self-government by Road Boards, he said that it would be found in many places that these Road Boards would be more economical and convenient than the Counties. The latter, of course, would always exist, but as distributing bodies to the Boards merely. He instanced his own Province, where, he urged, the staffs, &c, necessary to the County Councils would prove far more expensive than the official adjuncts of the old Provincial Government, As we interpet it, the permissiveness of the Act implies, in a few words, that if the residents of a county, through their Council, so desire it, the entire management of roads, bridges, and public works, will remain with the Road Boards as at present constituted, while the entire administration of the rates will be distributed in accordance with the resolution of the County Council, amongst the various Road Boards. What we would especially impress upon the minds of the ratepayers is this, that it rests with them to avail themselves of the provisions of the new law, or remain as they are, and they will have to express their opinions in the way they record their votes at the present election. When once the Councillors are elected, the matter is in their hands ; if they choose to bring the whole of the Act into operation, this decision is final. If, on the contrary, the Councillors think proper to defer adopting the provisions of the Act, they may do so, and alter their minds afterwards in a contrary direction. The extreme importance of the action which may be taken at the outset by the newly elected representatives of the ratepayers must be apparent. And we trust that the electors will well weigh in their minds and give their fullest consideration to the vital influence which the decision they will be compelled to record in a few days must have upon their future welfare and prosperity. Whatever course may be pursued, it will be incumbent upon them to place none but competent and high-principled men in the County Council, as it must not be supposed that, were the Council to take advantage of the permissive clause of the Act, its duties would not be responsible. On the contrary, they would be of considerable importance, and much of the future of the people would depend upon the care and discretion exercised in the selection of their representatives.