MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS BILL.

Grey River Argus, Issue 251, 22 August 1867, Page 3

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS BILL.

(From the Lyttdton Times.) The Municipal Corporations Bill laid on the table, of the House of Representatives is ft formidable document, It contains threerh undred and ninetyfive clauses, and has attached to it eighteen schedules, one of which is subdivided into two hundred and forty-five clauses. On glancing over it n© one will be surprised at the failure of the attempts made during last session of our Provincial Council to introduce a, measure of a similar kind, and the con victim will be very general that this is a subject on which it was time the General Assembly of the colony should legislate. The measure is an excellent one as it stands, and it may he improved through the experience acquired by members in their own provinces. It is in some rc-r spects the complement of the Local Government Bill, which has, happily, been thrown out ; and this will necee-r sitate one or two alterations. There are also some instances in which the authority of the Governer seems to be unnecessarily called in, and that of the Superintendent ignored. We think that in the case of proclaiming any district a borough, the power of doing so should be with the Superintendent of the Province ; or, at the very least, that the petitiou of the inhabitants should pass through his hands and bear his com.r ments, It also appears altogether unnecessary to refer to the Governor the application from a suburban district to be included in the neighboring borough. Provision is made, for the division of boroughs into wards, and this is done in such a way as to have a beneficial effect upon rates for special works. It is provided that the ordinary rates shall, in no case exceed one shilling in the pound qf annual rent, that special rates shall not exceed sixpence in the pound, and that rates levied to defray loans raised for large special works shall not, along with all other special rates, exceed one shilling in the pound. In this way the gross amount of annual rate» cannot go beyond two saillinga in the pound of rent. Works done for the local benefit of any ward are paid for by. a special rate levied in the ward, and the amount so raised is of course included in the total as stated above. It is intended that the normal division of a borough shall be into three wards, each of which shall have- not -less than three members. But in the case of a union of boroughs, or of a borough and Road Board district, this number of. wards may be exceeded. We cannot see the necessity for limiting the number of members to three, or a multiple of three. The just proportion of members to population and property, or in other i words, to rates, might be better or more easily secured by allowing two members to retire in oiie year, and one member j to retire in the second and third year, ' which would permit a ward to have four members when necessary. And so of any other number. This would be less troublesome, and less liable to occaj sion mistakes than changes in the boundaries and electoral rolls of the wards. It is just possible, too, that if the dignity o.f Mayor were tenable for threo years, or for the holder's term of , office as a Councillor, and were supported

in cases where the number of Councillors exceeded nine, .Jby two Aldermen, who should also have the 'right to sit on the bench of Magistrates as ""Justices of the Peace within the borough ; men of influence,might be induced to hold the offices and discharge the duties of them efficiently. The great value of .municipal institutions, and the desirability of strengthening as >Yell as popularising them in eveiy way, will be recognised by all who know the important part they have played, in English history; The last clause of the Act provides thatfines levied under it shall be paid intp the Borough Corporation Fund, and Hues undor the Police Offences Act are also to be so paid. This will extend to all the towns of the' Colony that advantage which the I)iwedin City Council contended for so stoutly on their own special behalf. The arrangement is a just and natural one when it is made geueral.