THE COUNTIES ACT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 288, 8 November 1883, Page 2

THE COUNTIES ACT.

(Woodville Examiner.) At the ptesent time the question of suspending this Act, and allowing Road Boards to take the pi ice practically of i County Councils, is serious'y*eccupying the thoughts of public mm m various localities. Coanty abqlishme at I is now generally accepted as a wise and/advantageous course of procedure, audit is for this reason that steps m this direction are being so actively taken .m., so many pLc)s'. We tike .. the* VyjaipAwa County as an ? exam-V p]e,.' with a view, b£ course, 'to Bhpw-' iog^the relationship with our; own district, and the disadvantages which accrue to an outlying district like, tbe ■Busji by being. a portion of that County, . and under its GpvernmVnt In the, .first place, it is plain that the Local Road .Board does more mi the ; improvement of roids, and cousequehiiy 'to progeny, and tbe district as a whcUi with i(s rates than the County does:- Why 6hoold this be ? It' anything, the Gouqty. expenditure should fat exceed that of the' ;ftoad Board, since it has an equal rate ..from proper vj and sundry taxes besides. Then -agoia'^wtoa^ClQaaly^mbiiies'are etpendel, the .work requires the super* vis on and approval of County, officials, who, m travelling to this outlying dis--trict must needa lose valuab'e time and travelling expenses. Theue expanses are, of?cbuVse, debited t) the local account as part of local expenditure. Then County; rates appear to be m arrears. The dog tax is collected locally, and the monies subsequently forwarded to Waipji,wa> and other matters, endless and innumerable, which appear equally trivial, bnf which, tiken together, make decid/d/(lirawb,jckß^anrl all tend to urge us to-£lha>g up " the Couritiea' Act, and- put the work on local bodies, with a" view of obt nning more satisfactory results m general. The^main, roads -are subsidised by, Government, apdj ifithe dißtrict3.oarJs had" control oVer these monies, the expenses of : working which we at present labour under, wbnld then • contribute largely towards the f alaiy of .an; overseer for the bush 1 6 idt districts,, yiz.j Norsewoo'i Danev.irfce, Kumeroa, and' W;oodviil'j, t who.cou!<i not only^bp ' on the scene of action^ periodicaliy'and disappear again, bub' could devote his' whole attention to contracts, large or small; to laying off road dues, pa&sing workj and generally supplying a want that is now so of led complainel of. An official of this kind would r be resident m the bash, and our money woald circuate m our own district more than it dots w*jen officials live at other_ places ; : anH why 1 should firiEot ?Y It is an honour to hold the position of Warden of a Epad Board,: and one that J4 appreciated ah is evident from. the keenly contested elections that take place -i but even then we cannot expect wardens to devote ■ much 1 of * their time m .laying off and passing contracts for the Boird, and -otherwise sacrificing working hourf, and witbbut e?en thanks for the trouble they take. Tue remedy is clear. Stragglni Counties are unworkable, to say 1 the least, and not advisable. Moreover, they are expensive and ineffective. The Amendment Act empowers districts to abolish County rule and govern themr selves, It enables them to so conC3ctrate the dispensation of such govern - ment as to combine each poition of a County that is possible to unite— tj les- j sen expenses where they can be distributed between two or more. The A%Bembly'ba3~ tendered a great jboon to the ieop'e,-ani we see B n6:.reasbn why the ; people should npj; avail themselves o l ' Guchbn: Q|)portanity afforded tiem of casing off the Counties yok<>. Mas erton has been agitating alteady. Some there have, strenuously opposed the step as uawisp,. and hava tendered most wondertul arguments — snch argument < as we could ' hatdly bring;, ourselves to account for vi. til a local man — one. from their midst, who fchoald kno*? som3 u> their tailings — made a few remarks regarding, . the . Jttimuiaka and the first quadtupeds that crossed it, and a few other comments relating to the bipeds which Kcc^mpanied them, which' aithbogh not em nently ; com f limentaiy : to , the li liter, at least explains away the leelings ot su prise that, we held. County 'disturbances and alterations have lately beea taking place m the Manawatu, an.i it was lo>uq;4 that ilie easiest way of getiingsignatures to petitions was by calling public; meetings at different ' parts of the district. '<