The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 27, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1012, 27 February 1912, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, February 27, 1912. NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Thk Local Government Bill, introduced by Sir Joseph Ward, and which was read a first time in the House last week, is one of the principal matters which will occupy the attention of Parliament at an early date. A Bill of this nature has been promised for many years and the Prime Minister explained that the purpose with which the Bill was introduced this session was that it might be circulated throughout the Dominion for the information of local bodies. The Bill in its present form contains 414 clauses aud proposes a complete reorganisation of the system of administering local affairs. The Premier stated that there are 546 county councils, borough councils, town boards aud road, river, water supply aud drainage boards in the country, aud no less than 16S of these bodies have revenues of less than a year. “The cost of management of these 168 in proportion to their revenues runs,” said the Premier, “from 17.58 per cent, to 26.72 per cent., as against 9.4 per cent, for counties and 4.28 tor boroughs. The problem to be solved is how to effectively bring about the reduction of this large number of uublic bodies, aud to give them sufficiently wide powers to meet the requirements of the people they serve. 1 ’ The abolition of all hospital and charitable aid boards, education boards, certain harbour boards to be specified, all river boards aud all drainage boards, is proposed. The functions of these bodies will be assumed by the Provincial Councils, to which all their powers, property aud liabilities are to be transformed. Harbour boards which are not superseded by tha provincial body will remain as at present, except that an amendment of the methods of election of those boards will he necessitated. The existing counties are to be continued, but all road districts and road boards are to be merged into counties, aud the controlling County Councils aud the divisions into ridings are also to be abolished. Town districts, which are sufficiently important, will be transformed into boroughs, aud the others merged into the containing counties. The Bill proposes the establishment ot a Local Government Board, consisting ot the Minister for Internal Affairs, Under-Secretaries for Internal Affairs, Crown Lands and Public Works, aud three other persons appointed by the Government. The function of the Board will be to exercise certain powers of supervision, control aud administration. The whole of New Zealand is to be divided into twenty-four areas of local government, each province comp:ising all boroughs included within its boundaries, which will be defined by Parliament, after recommendations have been made by a special commission. Lack province will be governed by a Provincial Council consisting ol elected representatives ot the various counties aud boroughs, representation to be in proportion to the value of the rateable property in each of the constituent districts. Members of the Councils will be elected on the same day every second year, aud each Council will elect annually a president who will receive an allowance not exceeding ,£3OO. The Provincial Councils will have power to im pose general or separate rates which will be collected by the subsidiary local authorities, and the provincial general rates will carry a State subsidy of 15s in the £. The division of powers between provincial councils on the one hand aud borough councils aud county councils on the other, is based on the principle that ail powers which can be adequately exercised within the limits of a single borough or a single county are vested in the borough and the county council. Those powers which, for their effective exercise, require to be extended beyond the limits of a single county or borough, are entrusted to the provincial council. The Bill proposes that county electors may possess either a rating or a residential qualification, each of which will confer a single vote, but any elector who possesses both qualifications will have two votes. Such a measure as this, if passed

uto law, will give the roads and bridges representative his quietus, and enable our Parliamentary members to devote their time to matters of greater national concern and should tend to elevate the tone of Parliament. The Bill has been distributed to local bodies lor perusal and suggestions and amendments will be duly considered. If a whole session were devoted to this measure it would be time well spent.