Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 28. 1896. "The Local Government Bill 1896."

Manawatu Herald, 28 May 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 28. 1896. "The Local Government Bill 1896."

Peesently there will be a meeting of the Municipal Association in Wellington and the principal business will be the consideration of the Local Government Bill introduced into Parliament last session by the Premier. It is a very heavy bill and one unlikely to be considered this session. We have before expressed our opinion that our representative in the House has a satisfactory grasp on the many pointi the Bill is most objectionable. We direct th_e attention of the Borough's representative to the Conference to the fact that the solicitor to the Association was employed by the Government to draw up this Bill and must therefore be looked upon as prejudiced in its favour. The Association has endeavoured, for thfi past three or four years, to get amendments made in the Municipal Corporations Acts, but they were quite unprepared for the measure now presented to them. The Association asked for amend-

raent and got annihilation. All who are i'ate'payers are cleaired to watch the improvement (?) the Government would like to mate in the administration of local bodiesj The Dew clause as to who can be an elector within a county or borough is Bet out as a householder under any tenancy, and who for the previous twelvte months has ttondttUously been such a householder in the same or some other part of the county or borough. When Ruch a householder gets upon whnt is <*«»!! c-^ tbo district ploetorV | iwt, which h will be noticed he can \ WIL...H ii.iviuy i(j pay 3 ixH'i ; penny of a rate or ev^n to bncome liable for a rate, be is entitled, to vote afc all e'leSiioris.antl is iqnalifipd to become fv councillor ( or a Maypr. This is as ,happy a plan 1 is c'aa be conceived of holding open the pockets of propprfcy owners with the an nouncement that those who havo nothing can hflp thernaelves from out of them. Not only » the simple occupancy of a house sufficient to qualify an adult to seek election, thu successful result of whicih will per mit hiiii, or her, to vote for any expenditure which may provide work in dull times, but the Bill is deter min^d to give him little trouble in currying his own ends by Belting forth that every elector shall . have line vote and no more. This stamps thn Bill as a most objectionable measuro for surely the essence of all fairness is proposed to be swept away when it is seriously proposed to legislate that a man who has no portion of the tax to pay may yet legislate for the expenditure of other people's money, mayhap, chiefly for his own benc-fit. In all local rating it has baen held, until now, that in proportion to the rales a man paid, so was he allowed to have a vote. Mr Wilson pointed out the many rates it would be possible to levy under this Bill, and ifc goes without saying that if the levying and expending of them can be managed by those not liable to pay them, then the numbor is likely to be many, and the amounts large. This is liberalism which" cannot even bo pleasing to a liberal who has property to tax. We hope the Borough's representative will enter his protest against the two clauses we have mentioned, and if any other representative points out that the sweeping away in such a wholesale manner of old institutions to put a spick and span Bill in its place, is acting in much too thorough a manner, he will be supported by the Council's member. Our local laws resemble the laws of the Empire in one respect, in that they are the growth of the wants of the districts as discovered in working them, and they are also so far elastic that alterations can from time to time be made to them to suit particular cases, without disarranging all existing, bodies. It may be expensive to subdivide districts to carry out im proveraents, but as the persons who subdivide such districts have to pay for their desires, and no one else, it might be accepted that they knew which was best for themselves. How ever good this proposed Bill might be made the fact remains it would not be what was wanted a year or two after it was passed. All our local legislation might undoubtedly be much improved but the main consideration for its success is that its provisions are baßed upon groundwork which is fair, and is sufficiently ela3tio to give aud take to the many curious conditions attaching to opening up new country.

We have a few good bacon curers among3t our settlers, but we believe Mr D. Whibley has given most attention to it, as he understands well how to kill and dre9B a pig and how id iure the meat foil baoon. He has the knack of rolling it, and smok* ing it rqual to factory mak«, Und sells it very readily.

A wrinkle for fathers who fear a large familV. AMr Harris (it golincU a familiar name) in Brighton has adopted a system of numbers to identify his family, bit som being known as William "1," "2" and "3," and his daughters as Betay,"l," ">a " and \'B," arid so otli The difficulty about satisfactory arrangements lie in the uncertainty of the number likely to arrive.

Egypt makes some nice escorts, the nrp-S'-nt rulers arc apparently using up past generation . An English paper mentions thrit «vt titveifpcol a cttrioiis scene \vas wit* ne-«ed.ori a steamer from an Egyptian por>, with a cargo of, bones . aiid skeletons, of a snake ensconced in a ekull.

The Consular report on the foreign trade of Japan for the quartor ended September last places the Japanese market in a very unfavourable light as an outlet for Australian products.

Mr George 11. BoUghton, who has been reoniy elected a Boyal Academician is practically an American; He was born in England but was taken by his parents to America when very young;

Messrs Abraham & Williams hold, a stock sale at Levin to-morrow.

Mr Andrew Joneon has had growing in his garden a variety of the gourd family ndt often iriet With which has the fruit the side and shape and Colour of the egg of the goose. Some say that they are delicious cooked. It is known as the Cucurbita or! era.

Somebody has been swindled in London. Thia is nothing new, nor \jas the system adopted by the swindlers, but it caught a Mr Buckley. Men advertised tkey wanted & short loan of say £15 for 14 days and would pay £5 for the accommodation. The security offered turned out valueless and the lender lost his money. Served him right.

The English Medical Praotiionera' Association, whose Council lias just adopted unanimously this resolution :— "To place the fact formally on record that since the days of Hippocrates it hai been held among medical practitioners as a cardinal, indisputable principle of conduct that they should vpgard all information acquired by or confided to them concerning their patients as absolutely sacred and inviolable:"

In this is3uo the Commissioner of Taxes gives notice of the dales when returns of income have to be sent in.

There will be no sale of Mr F. G Andrews' stocu on Monday, at Shannon.