HISTORY OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4932, 12 January 1877, Page 3

HISTORY OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERN-MENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

(Dunedin Star.) , The County Councils are now an entity, form part of the body politic, and have set t« work in earnest to discharge the functions devolving upon them under the new Constitution which has superseded Provincialism. The fight has been a longtjand stubborn one, but it is over for good and all, and the little-bitterness it has left behind will soon be dissolved in the combinations which the new state of things must entail npon all those active in, and anxious for, the public good. It will not be unreasonable ' at. this point in our history to review very briefly the various progressive steps which have been taken in Parliament in the directon of local self-government, from its initiation as a party cry to the legislation of last session. It may seem strange to many people who have been accustomed to accuse the late. Premier of deserting his original colors and propounding a policy of Centralism, under the guise of local administration of local funds and meters by local men, to be reminded that as early as 1868 Sir J. Vogel introduced a Bill entitled the Districts Boards Bill, in which provision was made for the administration of road districts much upon the same basis as municipalities under the Otago Municipal Ordinance, a most useful measure, the first of its class in the colony, and which he was principally instrumental in giving effect to. We are, unfortunately, not able to furnish any detailed particulars with regard to this Bill of 1868, as no copies of it are in print. Hansard did not exist then, and the newspaper reports of the Parliamentary proceedings of that year were very meagre, except upon party questions. We believe, however, ♦ l ”<.t the original draft contained, for obvious «ons, no endowment clauses, but gave the Boards limited powers of rating and borrowing, and it was to be permissive with the Provincial Councils whether it should come into force in any province or not. After being read a second time on September 12, 1868, this Bill lapsed in committee, owing chiefly to the apathy of the then Government,

who had enough to do to look after their seats. In the session of 1867, Mr. Stafford, then Premier, brought in his first Local Government Bill. This was a sweeping measure, giving power to the Government to proclaim county municipalities not exceeding sixty square miles in extent ; such area to include rateable property to, the value of at least £IO,OOO. This administrative machinery was almost identical with that of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1867, a modification of which is now in force. The revenue was to bo provided for by rates:— £2 to £1 from the Consolidated Fund upon the amount collected, and an endowment from the territorial revenue of the district to'the extent, under various conditions, of from .twenty to thirty per bent., pastoral reqts being specially excluded. This. Bill has also the great defectof being permissive, thus leaving it in the power of any province to defeat its object. Upon the second reading there ensued a long debate which is worth while looking up by those interested in political tergiversations ; and it was eventually thrown out by 36 to 27, neithsr party in the House being satisfied with it, and the arbitrary method of conducting business by the then Government having caused at the time a strong reaction, destined, as we know, to become still stronger in favor of provincialism. In 1868 Mr. Stafford introduced the Road Boards Bill, which purported to be a Bill to establish road districts and generally to provide for the construction of roads and public works, without the limits of boroughs. This Bill was, after discussion, read a second time on July 20, and then referred to a select committee, appointed most unusually by ballot, but who did their work well, and reported it to the House unaltered in principle but considerably so in detail and arrangement. It was read a third time and passed upon October 12 ; but was thrown out with scarcely any consideration whatever by the Legislative Council, by a -vote of 9 to 6, upon the second reading in that Chamber on October 19. This would probably have proved a very useful measure, as it avoided any faults of the Bill of 1867, and had received valuable emendations in the' select committee. The revenue of the Board was. to consist of rates and endowments as in the old Bill; but the rates were to be upon annual value, and not to exceed one shilling in the pound, and upon the petition of a majority of ratepayers an acreage rate might be substituted. Although failing in the principal measure, members of Mr. Stafford’s party were successful in passing . that session two very practical measures in the same direction, but .only local in their application—the Timaru- and Gladstone Board of Works Act, which provided large endowments to the local body and gave larger powers, and it is understood worked satisfactorily to the end ; and the Otago Road Boards. Endowment Act, which provided an endowment fund for these bodies consisting of 40 per cent, of all land revenue, except that derived from goldfields, one-fourth to be divided amongst Road Boards* for public works, to be expended by vote of the Provincial Council, one-fourth to be divided amongst road districts in proportion to rates raised, and the balance to be appropriated by the provincial Council for the construction and maintenance of .main roads. This measure does not appear to have been practically given effect to, although the Counties Ordinance passed by the Provincial Council in 1872, but never brought into force, provided for endowing under it the counties proposed to be constituted in Otago. With the exception of the Highway Boards 'Empowering Act, 1871, giving certain very restricted powers of rating, nothing was done in the New Zealand Parliament in the direction of giving extended powers to local bodies until the acceptance of the policy of Abolition rendered the Counties Act of last session necessary, which Act will doubtless have many technical defects ; but being right in principle will, we feel sure, commend itself to the ’intelligence of the people.