BACKBLOCKS LOCAL BODIES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 658, 8 April 1914, Page 4

BACKBLOCKS LOCAL BODIES.

The second annual conference of the Backbluck Local Bodies' Association, which is to be held on Tuesday next at Taumarunui, should be followed with interest by all who keep abreast of

the public movements of the district. The constitution of the Association marks a development in local government which is altogether in the interests of progress and cannot fail to exercis? an influence for good upon the settlement of the back country of the Dominion. The various questions discussed at the annual conferences of local bodies working under conditions common to all constitute the settlement problem with which the Government is confronted, and any recommendations emanating from the conference should be well worth serious consideration at the hands of any Government desirous of promoting settlement and developing the resources of the country on the best lines. The Counties' Conference which sits annually at Wellington is comprised largely of representatives of old-established districts where the initial difficulties associated with pioneer settlements have been solved, consequently the burning questions of newly settled districts are to some extent overshadowed by matters of broader interest which have little bearing on baekblock conditions. The local conference of adjoining counties,in which roading problems and native lands are of paramount importance, provides the opportunity for the intelligent discussion of these matters by the people who are vitally affected thereby, and the resultant recommendations should be of special value to those who are clothed with the power of legislation. Last year's conference of the Association produced recommendations concerning the roading problem uf the country which must be accepted and embodied in any progressive scheme of reading adopted by the Government. Should the forthcoming conference only result in the reaffirming of those recommendations and presenting them with added force to the authorities, good work will have been accomplished. However, there are numerous details and remits to be dealt with, and we have every confidence that the public questions asso* tiated with the progress of the backblocks as a whole will be dealt with from the broadeßt possible standpoint, and that benefit will accrue to the Dominion at large as a result of the conference.