Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY JUNE 24, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 149, 24 June 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY JUNE 24, 1881.

The pressure brought to bear upon the Government bas been such as to convince them of tho necessity of tbeir taking up tbe ■ question cf Local Government, which, it is evident, tbey did not intend dealing with this session. Neither did it appear that it was one on wbich tbe country demanded immediate legislation, for, with one or two exceptions, it was scarcely touched upon in any of tho pre-sessional speeches of members to their constituents. Mr Ormond certainly made a strong point of it, but he stood almost alone in doing so, or, at all events, there were not half-a-dozen more who treated it with the same amount of seriousness. However, on the first day on which the House met for real business, it - was brought prominently forward, first by Sir George Grey, and then by Mr Wakefield, whose remarks on the subject will be found on the fourth page. Other members followed suit, and tbe Government, seeing that the House not merely wished, but demanded, that they should bring down measures for dealing with the subject, have announced their intention tof doing so immediately after the financial statement is delivered. What form the proposals will take is, of course, not yet known, nor is it clear what it is precisely that is wished for. The nearest approach to a definition which we have had is Sir George Grey's allusion to grouping .together a number of counties, and re-establishing Provincial institutions "in a modified form." How much of tho leading features of the original institutions is to be retained, or to wbat extent the modifications are proposed to bp

carried out we are not told, but that there is a craving for some system that shall decentralize the Government of the country Beems to be very clear, and it is very probable that which of the two is preferable— the scheme presented by the Ministry, or that proposed by the Opposition—will be the main question to be decided at tha next general election. But what lies at the root of the whole matter is money. Roads and bridges and all the ordinary modes of communication between the outlying parts of tho countty must be kept up. This means money. Where ia it to come from? There ia no surplus upon which to draw, and although by the establishment of a system of Local Government the General Government will be deprived of seme of its fuuetiots, and the items calling for colouial expenditure will be fewer, still the relief will not bs so great as to leave for division among the new local bodies a sufficient sum to enable them to carry out their new duties, and to satisfy all the claims that will be made upon them. And besides, the system of subsidies bas been fairly tried and proved an utter and complete failure. Iv a few words Mr Wakefield sums up its results. "To my mind," he says, "it was the most vicious system ever introduced into any Country — a system wbich utterly debauched tbe local bodies, which operated in a most unjust manner, which had this effect, tbat rich districts in tbe country wbich wanted money least got most, aud districts tbat wanted most got none or little. I believe no Byßtem was evir devised in tbis country so calculated to stop the progress of colonization or settlement as that of subsidies. It was an utterly vicious system. Districts in the Colony, which were rolling in wealth, at the time, although they did not know how to spend the mouey, put on rates which they could very well afford to pay for the sole purpose of gctUng the pound for pound, and thus increased their already large hoards, whilst poor districts, which ought to have been assisted, got mere trifles by taxing themselves to a degree they could hardly bear. That was the effect of the system of subsidies." Tbe question to be decided by the representatives of the people is not so much the form that Local Government is to take as Where the money is to come from with which they.are to carry on. The scheme that sets forth how this is to be done with as little increase as possible to the burdens of tbe people is the one that will find most favor at the general election. nn i— —_»—__— «__ __j__a_______.. , ___,