LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2526, 13 May 1882, Page 3

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

IPBBBB ABSOOIATJOK TBLBQRAM.I WELLINGTON, May 12. We have boen favored by the Government with the following oopy of a circular about to be issued to the local bodies : The Government, in accordance with pledges given last session, have under consideration the propriety of introducing in the ensuing session measures to improve the position of local governing bodies, and to give them financial assistance. Prosecution of public works— The Government think that before Parliament deals with these measures it would be desirablo for local bodies to have an opportunity of directly expressing their opinieni on some of the more important points. I therefore have the honor to ask that you will, on behalf of the body over which you preside, answer the questions in the enclosed paper, or as many of them as you take an interest in, and return such answers to mo at your earliest convenience. The bulk of the questions, you will observe, relates to the constitution, powers, and duties of governing bodies. For your guidance I propose offering an explanation on some of the matters to be dealt with. It is, I think, generally admitted that the government of towns and villages under the Municipal Corporation and Town Distriots Aot needs no great alteration. Amendments on points of detail will no doubt be from timo to time required. It is also generally admitted that there are a number of special purposes for which special bodies are required, and mutt be alio red to exist at present, such as Harbor Management, Eduoation, &c, &o. I'herefore it is only to the government of country districts that this circular is intended to apply. The Government, after careful inquiry, are satisfied that there are some distriots which desire the dual government of counties and Boad Boards, and others which wish only the government of one or the other of these bodies. It is evident t!-:at legislation to be satisfactory must be so framed as to allow each district to ohoose readily whioh of such forms of government it prefers to have. One of the measures most needed is a Consolidating Boad Board Act, which by bringing the whole law relating to Boad Boards into one statute, would much simplify the working of those institutions. Tour answer to tbe questions as to counties and Boad Boards will materially help the Government and Parliament in dealing with Boad Boards, and also amending the Counties Bill. As to finances of looal bodies of oourse the greater part of thoir revenue must at all times be derived from rates. Believing that the present system of valuing is unnecessarily expensive, and that looal bodies might at a small oost to the colony be relieved of the oost of valuation altogether by using the property tax valuation, the Government are preparing a new Bating Bill on that basis. By such Bill it will be proposed that every third year, in March, commencing in the year 1883, tbe Property Tax Commissioner, who will then have completed his valuation, shall furnish each body with the valuation roll. He will also have to furnish each body every intermediate year with a list of any alterations made by him, owing to the ohange of owner or occupier, purchase of land from Crown, &3. Batepayers will be protected from excessive valuations, for not only will they have the appeal to Beard of Beviewers, but a!gj under the Property Assessment Act of last session the Government must purchase tbe property if they do not reduce their valuation to what the owner has valued at; while tho Governmant are protected from unfairly low valuations by having the right of purchase at the owner's valuation with £l2 per cent, added. Bates will then be struck on the capital value of the land, and of course making out of the rate book will, under the proposed Bill, be a matter of clerical work simply. It will also be proposed to vest the power of selling or letting land for non-payment of rates in the public trustee, six months after judgment has been obtained or notice given to the defaulter, but compelling the public trustee to do so in getting a certificate of judgment, and also enabling him to ;pay over to the looal body the rates, &s., in arrear before the sale or lease, in which case he will retain the interest charged, as these powers are generally exercised in case of unoccupied or deserted lands over whioh the public trustee has control. It will be more convenient for him to have these powers, and it will sava both trouble and expense to local bodies. As to the financial position and what should be given by the colony to local bodies, the Government proposals of last year were embodied in the Boad Construction Bill and Crown and Native Lands Bating Bill, but the Government are now considering the propriety of making important alterations in these Bills before introducing them again, and hope thereby to make them satisfactory to Parliament and the public. In considering this question, I would like you to bear in mind (I.) That it is most desirable to avoid having to obtain aid for looal bodies directly from Parliament. (2) That whether the money for the construction of local public works be found by Parliament or by local bodies it must, to a great extent, and for some time to oome, be found out of loan. (3) That as regards such works as the main roads, whioh connect one oentre of population with another, thereby promoting the prosperity of the whole colony to an even greater degree than they benefit immediate localities through which they pass, it is only fair that the whole colony should bear, at any rate, the'greater part.'of the cost of construction. (4) That as regards such works as district roads, which may be said to be constructed ohiefly for the benefit of property through whioh they pass, the greater part of the cost of construction should be borne by properties so benefited ; in other words, by rates, whioh should be spread over a reasonable term of years, so as to repay the principal with interest at a low rate. The Government endeavored to effect these objects by the Boad Construction Bill of last session. Its main provisions were as follows :—A Board was proposed which was to distribute the Government aid provided by the Bill, and to obtain repayment of those portions advanced as loans. _ Neither the existence of nor method of constituting such Board was at all necessary to the soheme of the Bill, as the Board had| praotioally no discretionary powers as to granting of loans, the right of (each local body to obtain grants of money provided by the Bill baing clearly defined by it, but the reason for proposing a Board was that without it tbe powers proposed to be conferred on it would have to be oonferred on the Government of the day, and this, especially as to enforcing repayment of loans, seems objectionable. Then the Bill provided £150,000 out of loan and a yearly grant of the surplus land fund up to £150,000 for giving aid to main roads, which were roads deolared to bo such by the Board, with the approval of Parliament. Any County Council or Councils whioh could have provided a fourth of tho cost could at once have got other three-fourths from the Board as a free grant in aid. If such Council was not in a position to provide a fourth then, if the ratepayers approved by a poll the levying of a speoial rate to repay euoh fomth, the Board were to Bupply the whole of the money necessary for the construction of thrae-fourths of it as a free grant in aid, and the other onefourth being repayable by twenty half-yearly debentures of the Council, whioh were not to bear interest.

In order to show the working of this part of the Bill I will give an instance. Suppoie road from A to B had been declared a main road, and that tho Council was dcsirouß of constructing the whole or a portion of it, whioh would have cost, say, £IO,OOO. The Council could, on finding £2500 themselves at once have got £7500 as a free grant in aid, or else they could have got the whole £IO,OOO on giving debentures for the paying of £125 every half year for ten years, to be secured by the levying of a rate which would every half year for ten years have produced £125. Of course the amount of this rate could have been proportionately diminished if the county could,|or chose, to furnish a part of such £2500. Other works to be aided by Government were river works and district roads, whioh were all roads not main roads. Aid could have beea piven under this part of the Bill to Boad Boards or Biver Boards as well as to County Councils. To start with, it was proposed that the Board should be pro. vided with £200,000 out of loan for these purposes. Any such local body had a right under the Bill to obtain an advance of the whole or any portion of the cost of such works if the ratepayers had by a poll approved of the levying of the rate to secure the repayment of the amount advanced in the following manner: It was to give debentures for the whole amount advanced, paying the principal baok with interest by twenty-seven half-yearly payments of £4 lOs for every £IOO. In order to show the working of the Bill as regards river works or district roads, I will give an instance, Suppose

a Road Board required £SOO to oonstruct a district road, it could, on complying with the necessary conditions, have obtained the whole of the money on giving debenture! for twenty-seven half yearly payments of £22 10s each, on payment of the last of which the whole debt, principal as well a 9 interest, would have bsen extinguished. The Act contained a number of maohinery provisions fcr insuring that the estimate of the cost en which the moneys were to be advanced were reasonable; that moneys could have been applied only to works for which they were obtained ; for taking the poll of the ratepayers; for enabling the local bodies to unite in an application, and for making and collection of special rates, &s. If the applications for the year had exceeded the money at the disposal of the Board, such money would be divided pro rata, the Board having no power to grant the application of one body in preference to that of another. It chouid be mentioned that the definition of road given by the Bill included a bridge, and that priority was given to the application of bodi9B dosirous of reconstructing roads suddenly destroyed by floods. Another part of the Bill provided a scheme for constructing roads through Grown Lands, either before or Bhortly after the sale, out of the purchaee money to be received therefrom, thus throwing the cost of construction of all main roads through lands now in the hands of the Orown upon the land fund. It will ba seen that by the proposal it was suggested to provido at once half a million of money for road making, but of course if adopted and found to answer, it conld have been expanded to any extent required for settlement if approved by Parliament. At any rate, as regards those works, the money for which was to be found entirely by way of loan, it might be as well here to show what the cost to the colony of these proposals would have been As the colony would have been lending .£200,000 for district works at 3 per cent., for which the coloay itself pays 5 per cent., this would have ment an annual charge of £4OOO. Besides, there would have been full interest on the £150,000 paid out of loan for main roads as above Ebown, which is about £7500, in all £11,500. Bat, considering the large extent of country this expenditure would have enabled local bodies to open up, thus promoting settlement and adding to the general wealth of tho colony, it must be admitted that no money could bebetter spent. Had it been considered advisable to spend more money, every additional £IOO,OOO found by Parliament for the purposes of the Bill would have cost the colony £2OOO per annum. It should be noted also that the funds granted to the Board would every year have increased by the receipt from local bodies of the half-yearly instalments made in re- payment of loan,, which would hare been available for again advancing for similar work.

As to the maintenance after the construction of works above referred to, there cinnct be much doubt that in all ordinary cases the cost must be defrayed out of the rates. In other words, by the owners of property benefitted by the same. It is because of the recognition by the Government of this principle that they introduced the Orown and Native Land Bating Bill, which brought the Urown and the Natives within the operation of such a principle. The following is an outline of the provisions of that Bill: —(a) There were first some general exemptions of Orown property. (»). All Orown lands in boroughs would have been rated like private lands to the Colonial Treasurer, and the rates paid out of the consolidated fund. (c) All Orown lands anywhere (subjeot to above referred to exemptions) on which there are bridges used by tbe Government, would have been dealt with in the same way. (x>) All Native lends in boroughs would have boen rated to the owner or oooupier, just as in the case of land belonging to Europeans, (k) The Government in Council might define districts at any time in which all Native lands should bo treated in the same way. (k) Then as to all other Crown and Native lands not yet dealt with, certain fixed values for rating purposes wero given by the Bill, and also the quantity in each district to start with was fixed by tbe schedule, and would have been diminished even as any lands ceased to ba Crown or Native lands. It was thought that thus fixing these two points of value and the quantity, though the amounts of either were of oouree open for modification, would have saved much trouble and dispute in case suoh land rates were proposed to be paid out of the consolidated fund; but any so paid on Native lands would have been collected as a stamp duty when the land was sold or leased to Europeans. I trust that this explanation will aid yoa in comprehending the scheme of these Bills, and I shall be glad to receive any suggestions from you generally on the matter dealt with by this ciroular, as well as your answers to the specific questions set forth in the schedule. I have the honor to be, sir, Tour obedient servant, H. A. Aikikbok.

The questions asked by the Colonial Treasurer in the circular are:—l, Should the county chairmen be elected as mayors are ? 2. Should counties bB enabled to split up, or amalgamate, or otherwise, or alter .heir boundaries wit: out the consent of Parliament, as is now required ? 3. Should road districts in each oounty form ridings of suoh oounty ? 4. Would you tuggest any alteration in the mode of electing councillors 1 5. Can you suggest aay new duties which should be imposed, or new powers which should be conferred on counties, more especially as to power of making bylaws. 6. Should the counties be enabled ta oreato new road districts, or alter existing ones of their own motion, or only on the petition of a majority of the ratepayers ? 7. Should the counties or the Road Boards have the power of altering the divisions and the numbers of ths members of Road Boards ? 8. What rating powers should canities hare ? 9. What rating powers should Road Boards have ? 10. If the operation of the Counties Act is suspended in any oounty, should Road Boards be enabled to exercise 6ny cf the powers of the county, and if eo which ? 11. Should Road Board members hold office for a [fixed time, and if so what ; or should a proportion retire every year ? 12. Should Road Board chairmen be elected as majors are ? 13. Is it desirable to allow of Road Boards elections being held in open public meeting, like those of sobool committees, in districts where the Road Board by special order adopts this plan. 14. What alteration go you suggest in the Bating Bill 6B sketched in the circular enclci c .d herewith ? 15. Please state where the provisions of the Roads Contraction and Crown and Native Lands Rating Bills would suit your district, and if not, what alterations would you suggest which would 'nake thesa measures more useful ? 16. Have you auy suggestions to make generally on the matters dealt with in the circular in which this is enclosed.