THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1805, 19 May 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1874.

The Superintendent of .Westland is in a fix. He does not kuow what, to do with the Road Boards-— whether to improve them off the face of the Province, or to endeavor to r make"them if possible asef ul bodies. We confess -to a strong feeling of-sympathy : with his Honor. The Road Bbards of" Weatland 'have not beeni;.a

success-T-pn.^the contrary they may as a whole be considered to have failed to fulfil the expectations that were formed of them. But . it is only fair that before .they should be utterly condemned, an attempt should be made to find the catises of their non-success. It should be borne in. mind that where the districts are extensive, the population small and scattered, and the occupation of the community mainly confined to a branch of industry which cannot with propriety be called a permanent one, the conditions are not favorable to the successful operation of local government. Add to these drawbacks that but few men care to take

part in the management of local affairs if their doing so causes any personal inconvenience, and it may be understood how it is that' the Westland Road Boards are in disrepute.. When the County of Westland Act was being framed, the question of Road Boards was very earnestly and seriously^discussed, and the provision for the creation of these. Beards was inserted in the lightof an experiment, of the succebsful result of which no great hopes were entertained!' It was forseen that there; would be great if not insuperable difficulties in the way of rating upon ah equitable system the property in the various districts, but it was thought that as the miners contributed a large land revenue in the shape of gold duty,, and that the County Council had agreed by resolution fo hand over 75 per cent of the land sales to these bodies, it was ■reasonable that the miners should not only elect " members of the Road Boards, without the necessity of being actual "ratepayers," but might become members of the Boards id the same manner. Small as were the land salts the contribution of three-fourths of the -proceeds- helped materially to assist the Boards in carrying ;i put; their functions, and although in many cases the money .was not/ expended so wisely as it might have been, a good dealof useful work was done. ; \ But when -the staff upon , which the Boards depended was withdrawn, and they had to resort, to their powers of local taxation, the unsuitableness of these institutions as they were constituted was soon made apparent. Rates had to be levied^but no single rate was or is a legal one. .' *' AU:":rateable. property should be assessed and rated to constitute a valid rate, but 'the Boards have made a point of exempting mining property and plant i.f all kinds, although it had just as much right to pay rates as household property. The rates pressed heavily upon the dwellers in the' mining townships, and yet ♦he' money thus raised was expended by Boards' composed of men who contributed no direct taxation, and who steadily refused to tax their own property. No wonder that a lax manner of administering the affairs of the Boards crept in and grew, and that the system of local government should get into disrepute in West land. But the worst feature of these bodies is- that whilst refusing to accept I and perform their proper responsibilities "tney Tiave been in the habit of taking up questions^and interfering in matters with which they have iio concern whatever'

wasting the publicimdnjey^n futile'!*' conferences," and such ;;like "'rionsenße; On the one hand they asli i for li^ger[ t powei"s and a wider scope oj : actioj^ anfljonj^lje other they beg td^be r&ieaaedT^rbm anything that entails the necessity' for self- taxation. There is no question that the Road Boards of Westiand• --require* to be remodelled, we venture to suggest the direction in which the reformation should take. First ,pf .all^ theroad districts should be reduced in size, and. be so arranged that full oppor-' tunity should be gi^eri' ; for- the Wquitable representation of the district on the Board. For instance take the Paroa Road Board as it ;is now constituted— what active part in the affairs of the Board can the ratepayers of Greenstone, Maori Gully, and other places take ? The only voice they can make heard is sometimes a cry of dissatisfaction after some irreparable . blunder has been made. The Paroa District^ and probably others, would well afford to be divided. Next to altering the area of the districts, it should be. made a sine qua non in any new Road Board Ordinance, that only ratepayers should be members of the Board. This would ensure that feeling of resposibility in the expenditure of public money which can only rightly exist when the spenders are also the contributors. Then, we think, that a fixed proportion of the land revenue should be given to those districts in which it accrues, and that whilst on the one hand it should be made compulsory that the Boards should perform their duties, on the other care should be taken rather to improve than degrade their position. We were much struck the other day by a remark of John Bright's upon' the , question of the Local Government (England) Bill, in his speech to the people of Nelson. Defending the utmost extension of local government, he saidrthat he. desired to see all the local governing bodies from parish vestries upwards, to be dignified with the fullest authority proper to them. This prin- ; ciple should be applied to our Road Boards. Define their functions, give -them as large powers as is possible, but at the same time make the discharge of ihese powers compulsory — as, for instance, if a Road Board neglects its duties, let the Provincial Government step in and do them, and levy a rate upon the district. We shall be better able to discuss this' question when we learn what the views of the Council are on the subject ; meantime we offer the opinions expressed above for the consideration of the i Council. ,