MR CURTIS ON THE COUNTIES BILL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 217, 4 September 1876, Page 4

MR CURTIS ON THE COUNTIES BILL.

.fr Curtis' speech on the motion that the, Counties Bill be read a second time is reported as follows in Hansard No 18:— Mr Curtis. — I am quite sure the House must be exceedingly glad to have'come at last to the consideration of the business for which it more specially assembled—- namely, to consider those measures whioh embody the form of government which is to take the place of the institutions which were abolished last session. With respect to the Bill before the House, it is undoubtedly the most important one of the aeries which have been brought down by the Government, and I must say that, while I am quite prepared to support the second reading. I was very oonriderably disappointed by the provisions it contain. . It appears to me to establish' a very large machinery (o effect a very small amount of work. 1 cannot help thinking that it would have been better to give to these Councils some functions of a higher and greater scope, so as to attract a better class of . men to take part in the affairs of the country than I see any possibility of under the provisions of the Bill. What, ofter all, are the functions entrusted to these Councils? In some of the larger and richer districts of the colony, such as those of Canterbury and Otago, where a considerable fond will be provided out of surplus laud revenue, these functions may be of considerable importance; but in the greater part of the colony, in at least six out of the nine proyinoes, there will be no surplus land revenue, aud in the seventh, probably, there will be a very small sum, and that very- likely, of quite a temporary character. Well, then, what are the funds that will remain at the disposal of these counties? They are the somewhat hazy amount to be contributed from the Land Fund — a contribution which lam unable satisfactorily to get at, although I have carefully read this Bill and the Financial Arrangements Bill. I am unable to understand exactly how the contribution of £l for £l is to be guaranteed. I conclude that the intention is tbafc£l for £i shall be given in i the event of tbe Council raising money by way of rates, and that they will be subsidized for each £1 so raised. I think I am , right in supposing that, in the event of the Coun- | cil raising no rates whatever, the i actual amount of revenue raised by the j Road Boards within the county will be taken as the sum to be subsidised. Whether! am right in that supposition I oannot tell. I must say that the provisions of the Financial Arrangements Bill are not all clearly expressed. Well then, the funds which will be at the disposal of those counties which have no surplus land revenue, will have to be applied to the maintenance and construction of main roads, and if they have absolutely no money to begin with, they will have to raise a considerable sum by way of loan, and I am quite sure the ratepayers will object to borrow money, upon which they have to pay interest, for the purpose of extending the main roads to the outlying districte. The maintenance only of main roads, I am confident will be tbe chief duty of the Councils, although they may have some functions, which ' they may or may not exercisr, with | regard to charitable institutions, public libraries, museums, slaughter-houses, public pounds, and things of that kind! I do not think that is the kind of duty which will be likely to attract men who are capable of managing such j affairs as should be entrusted to the County Councils. In the Province of Nelson the main roads are for the greater part maintained by the Road Boards; those in the more distant districts being maintained by the Provincial Government, who take contracts for their maintenance for a period of six br twelve monihs. The County Councils will probably pursue the same plan; and; when they have done that, what more have they to do ? Absolutely nothing. In the case of the larger counties, where some of the members at least would probably have to travel forty or fifty miles to attend the Council, I am confident it will be impossible to get good men to become members. There are two ways in which this might have been remedied, and the functions of the Councils mado of such a character that leading men would take an interest in the public affairs of their districts. One would would have been to abolish the Road Boards, and place the control of ail matters dealt with by them iv the hands of the County Councils. At the same time the Road Board districts might be placed in the position of wards or ridings, provision being made, as in some of the Road Board Acte, that the whole of the rates raised within emh of these districts should be spent within its bounds. However, I thiuk that is a plan which would not meet the approval of this House; in fact, there is a large number of members who ure io favor of maintaining the Road Boards, and doing without the counties. But there is another way in which this proposal might be improved. Why could not the Councils be entrusted not only with the management of the main roads, but with the management of the police, gaols, lunatic asylums, hospitals, and even with the management of educational affairs ? I would much rather see the functions created under tbe. Education Boards Bill intrusted to the "' County Councils than that they should be exercised by the Boards which it is proposed to be established under tbat

Bill. In this way the functions of the Councils would assume real interest, and you will get able men to take part in th? management. I have a strong objection to the Government taking over the control of the ; police.- It seems to me that the Government of the day will acquire enormous voting power if that is done. They have already a sufficiently large voting power all over the country in the large staff of officials connected with the Post Office, Telegraph, Customs, and Public Works departments. It may be said that we have the ballot, and that the policeman, or any other public officer, is not in any way bound to vote for the Government; but we know that ft ia a universal practice for employe's of the Government; in fact most honorable men feel that they would be committing something like an act of treachery if they did not vote for those from whom they receive their pay. I feel quite sure the proposal to give the Government the control of the police would not be listened to in England, where thb control of both; police and, gaols is given to the counties, and I see no reason why it should not be so ia this oountry. I was glad to hear the Premier say that he hoped to see the day when the Road Boards would be merged into the County Councils. I should be glad to see that day myself, for I feel sure the immediate result of the establishment of these County Councils will be a hand-to-hand fight between the Councils and the Road Boards, as to who should levy rates and have control of the roads. -There is provision in the Public" Works Bill under which the counties are to declare what are county roads and what are district roads and I imagine there will bo a strong tendency to declare that certain roads are not county roads, and to leave the cost of thsir maintenance to Road Boards, which, in many cases, have too much Ipft to their charge: already. It is premature to refer to the wiy in which the country is to be divided iv the various provinces; but I would point out that there will be considerable difficulty where a county extends ioto two provinces, as is the case in several instances. In the first place, there will be two sets of fencing laws, and a variety of minor laws in duplicate within the boundaries of the same county; aud in one of the proposed counties in Nelson, in addition to the double set of ordinary laws, there will be two sets of goldfieids regulations. I do not Bee that the Government have made any provision to obviate the difficulties in these respects. While I ara upon this subject, I may also point out that I do not think the Government have, as yet, made any provision for administration on the goldfieids. There ia no provision for granting mining leasee, agricultural leases, or for attend ing to any of those numerous questions which at present require constant care on the part of the Provincial Governments. Ido not know whether it is intended to give the counties. power tq deal with these matters, or whether the Government intend to take such subjects into their own hands. However, the Bill will, I presume, be read a' second time and go into Committee, and I hope that, in its passage through Committee, it will receive the utmost attention at the hands of honorable members, and come out in a shape which will give something like general satisfaction to the country. ■

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