The Lebin Chronicle. THUESDAY, MAY 9, 1918.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 9 May 1918, Page 2

The Lebin Chronicle. THUESDAY, MAY 9, 1918.

Tte various local bodies interested hare been notified that the Palmersjbon Hospital Board lhas made ,a fresh assessment of tlie levies to be collected this year from the counties and' boroughs in 4is district. These show a reduction upon the original proposals. The amounts levied on tfo contributing authorities are now as follow, the first column representing the expenditure on maintenance and the second ,till at on 'capital expenditure: £ £ Horowhenua County 1224 102 Kairanga County 1089 92 Oroua County 10.79 91 Palmerston Borough 107.3 02 Manawatn County 861 72 Kiwitea County 732 61 Pohaiigina County -13<» 37 Fail ding Borough 293 24 Levin Borough 105 8 Foxton Borough 90 7 OtaJvi Town Board 70 6 Shannon Borough 42 3 liongotea Town Board 14 1 The local assessments compare as follow with the levies made by the Wellington Board last year: Welling- Palmerston. ton. £ £ Levin 234 113 Horowhenua 2786 1326 The secession from Wellington has thus meant a very substantial economy in this direction, and in view of the fact that the Wellington Board, lias increased its levies this year by no 'less tilian 39 per cent—that is from 4s 6d per head of the population to 6s 3d per ■ head—ratepayers in the Borough and C'ou m';y will see that they have reason to be grateful for the agitation that liberated tdiem from paying tribute money to a Boa;'d whose extravagant demands on the public purse (have made j':. quite notorious in the Dominion. The latest levy has raised a. storm of indignation amongst the unfortu- ; nate local bodies whidi are calledi upon to find £9000 more than last year or a total sum of £31,980. The Wellington and Petone Councils have decided 'co appeal against tlhis excossJve apportionment and demand an enquiry into the causes for the enormous cost of hospital administration in Wellington.

rangement, which doct- n<J; give contributing authorities a voice in proportion to t'licir financial o'bligaijjons, and local bodies in tho Horowhenua County should strongly endorse fchs protest. It is quil'je time tlie whole constitution of Hospital Board,s was changed. The present system dc-es not provide 4'or direct responsibility and therein violates the found! principle that administrators should be answerable to those who provide the funds. 'Now one authority imposes tho taxation and another, which i= not directly responsible to the taxpayers, spends tho money. Such a system affords no ■check on wasteful expenditure and Should be replaced by one requiring Hospital Hoards to collect thri.r own taxes, so that the ratepayers would know where to lay. tho blame for extravagance.

The anomalous position in regard to the representation of tfhta County was brought before the Levin Borough Council on Monday evening, and Mr P. W. Goldsmith pointed out that when lie had taiken the necessary steps to hold an election the Minister had taken it into his lieadl tlia); 18 members would farm an unwieldy Board and he recommended a. reduction !to eleven, givling tho County, and Levin, Shannon and Otaki two members as against three uncV'i' the Act l>y which they had entered 'ihe Palmerston district. A curioiv- thiing about the proposed; arrangement was that whereas under the present oirder the district was a combined one it was now proposed to give the Comvy tlhe. right to eject one member and lump Otaki, Shannon and Levin together to elect the other, which appeared to be a very clumsy arrangement. The representation for the towns would be fair enough, but ■ jhe county with a population ihalf the ,-ize <»f Palmerston would have only one representative as against Palmerston'e three,. Mr. Goldsmith said the Oteki Town Board hadl discussed the matter and had con.'-ldered that if the* reduction was to take place the district slhio- ■ i'ld be divided into north' and south wards with a member for each. Councillors considered the proposal a most nnfalir one, especially for the County and after diiscusfiiion, decided on the motion oif Cr Mackenzie, seqonded by Cr Lancaster: "That i'slio Borough Council at>t 'n conjunction with the Horowhen.ua. County Council to secure more equitable representation on the Palmerston Hospital and Charitable Aid Board."