The Globe. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1056, 15 November 1877, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877.

At last and almost at the fag end of a very protracted session the question of Municipal endowments has been raised, ffor a very long time this has been a point upon which tve in Christchurch, particularly, entertained very _ strong opinions. AV e have been obliged to look on and see other cities in the colony enjoying ample revenues from endowments which had been preserved to them, whilst we have only been dependent upon what the Provincial Government, or lately the General Legislature, [chose to give. It is useless to refer, as some of our public men do, to the sale of the town reserves. That is past, and cannot he recalled, and the money received for them was, no doubt, very acceptable to the town in those days. But we have a right to insist that out of the waste lands of the Crown the city and boroughs shall receive adequate endowment, which shall not be dependent upon the will of the Legislature. The municipalities are discharging duties which otherwise would fall upon the Government, and therefore it seems only right that the public estate should supplement the contributions of the citizens, and thus enable the municipal bodies to extend the sphere of their usefulness. Mr Murray has moved a resolution in the House to the following effect: — “ That each municipality in Hew Zealand should have a permanent inalienable endowment of public lands in proportion to population, and the endowment where available to he within the municipality.” With the first part of the motion we entirely agree —that an endowment in proportion to population should be made. So far as Christchurch, however, is concerned, the last clause of the resolution Avill be of no benefit whatever. This arises from the fact that there is no land available within the city. Hence Mr. Murray’s motion, if carried in its entirety, will not benefit us. Indeed, we incline to the opinion that no municipality of any importance whatever in New Zealand would he enabled to take advantage of it. Some of the smaller and more remote boroughs which are sparsely populated might do so, but the large centres of population, which from the large expenditure entailed upon them would require to be endowed, would nut. Practically, therefore, it appears to us that the latter clause of Mr Murray’s motion, if carried, would fail in its object. It would be very much better to enlarge the endowments outside the boroughs by giving them increased grants of land. The time in fast approaching when

they will require them even more urgently than now. At present municipalities receive certain subsidies in addition to the endowment granted under the Act of IS7O. But these subsidies are not likely to last for long. Already, on the political horizon, are signs that presage a speedy withdrawal of these. When this is done the municipalities will be left in the position of having to carry on, to a large extent, the work of local self-government with but inadequate resources. Now the ratepayers find the various demands upon them, in the shape of rates, quite as much as they can afford. If the subsidies are withdrawn, and the only outside help remaining is the small endowment, the usefulness of the municipalities will be seriously crippled. Instead, therefore, of passing a provision, of which the greater portion of those intended to be benetitted are unable to avail themselves, it will be very much better to extend the provisions of the Act granting endowments of land situate outside the boundaries of municipalities. All will thus be enabled to participate; but under the last part of Mr. Murray’s resolution the majority most decidedly would not.