COUNTY SYSTEM.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4839, 8 June 1925, Page 2

COUNTY SYSTEM.

“RIDINGS OUT OF DATE.” VIEWS EXPRESSED BY SETTLERS. That the riding system of county administration was out of date and the whole county council system had become unworkable, was the opinion expressed by Mr H. D. Jamieson at the Kerepeehi Ratepayers’ Association meeting on Wednesday last. Counties, he said, were too small, and thuw too great a proportion of the rates went for administrative expenses. Settlers did not get value for the rates they paid. Councillors did their duty to the best of their ability, but as a rule they were not trained. business men, and even though they profited by the experience gained during a term of office, the system provided for an election every three years, when a new set might be elected. The business of a county council was large and complex observed Mr Jamieson, and it should not be entrusted to a body of amateurs. In his opinion the time had arrived when some other system of controlling the reading of the country should be evolved. Even the merging of several adjacent counties into one would be a progressive step, as it should reduce the overhead charges very considerably. The times were changing, he continued. Business was becoming more complex. More difficult reading problems had to be grappled with, yet the same old system remained. Some new method should be initiated whereby roads could be made and maintained more cheaply than the present cost to ratepayers. These views were endorsed by Mr W. Booth, who said that to his, mind the best scheme would be to turn the roads back to the State. It could let big contracts, as had been done by the Public Works Department on the East Coast railway. The Public Works Department or the Main Highways Board should be run at a leaser overhead cost than the numerous local bodies controlling roads. It was obvious , continued Mr Booth, that the present scheme of administration had not progressed with the times, and was now very much out of date. The councils of adjacent counties squabbled, and councillors squabbled amongst themselves, while the ratepayers were called upon to foot the bill. There was no security of riding funds, as a council could: override the wishes of a riding member and make grants for works in other ridings, and if one riding spent more than its share the other ridings had to temporarily advance the money. This temporary advance seemed to be carried on for ever, and the greatest benefit could be conferred on a riding by spending as much money therein as possible and keeping its account in debit. All councilions grabbed at money like fish after bait, and it was the strongest that got it;