N.Z. LOCAL BODIES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 112, 28 May 1937, Page 14

N.Z. LOCAL BODIES

-Press Aasociatlon.)

Minister Replies To Critics NEEDED REFORM

(By Telegrapb-

WELLINGTON, Last Night. "As long as local body amalgamation remained in the realm of academic discussioa everybody agreed as to the. nocessity of pushing on with the job,"' said the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. W. E. Parry) in an address this evening to the Institute of Publie ;Administration. "But when the quesjtion is faced and attempts are made to Iproceed with the work, all sorts of lexcuses are made to def eat progress. jNotwithstanding the fact that practically every newspaper and every local body has, within the last 12 months, agreed that the reform is necessary, yet when applied to their own areas almost every local body has suggested that there is no need to alter the status quo as far as their area is concerned. "I submit that New Zealand has reached the time when re-organisation cannot be longer delayed. It is suggested in some qnarters that there already exists in the statutes governing various types of local authorities provisions to enable such re-organisation to take- place and that, therefore, any interference is1 unwarranted. Every soetion of the community has admitted the need for reform and yet that reform, has not taken place. This of itself is. sufficient to prove that the present provisions are unsuitable for the purpose of national re-organisation. When my programme has been carried out, I have no doubt that the resuh' will be that ^7ew Zealand' will have a system of local government second to none in the world." ,