THE COUNTY SYSTEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5346, 16 May 1878, Page 3

THE COUNTY SYSTEM.

. (From tho Lyttelton Times.) It is painfully obvious from experience that the present County system in'New Zealand ftoesynot work well. It wholly fails, ns a rule, to secure the local aelLgovernment which'was'secured by provincial institutions. The. very - fact of, half the County'Councils being in a state . of: self-suspension shows the miserable failure.- But in those which are in , active j being proper provision is .not made for the larger local works and the'larger local functions which devolved on the provincial authorities. The result' is that the works and functions are thrust •on Parliament , and .the,. Ministry.. Wo have as' a consequence, in reference to works, a; pernicious series of local scrambles in the Legislature, an unconstitutional j pressure ~ continuously put on the . Ministry, works blindly authorised- and in--efficiently and extravagantly constructed, time! and. money j wasted, while - the - proper duty of Parliament is badly done or is not done at all. We ha/e/also local, functions improperly centralised. They are undertaken by those, who know little! or nothing about them, who are guided by guess or liy* irresponsible and, often, foolish advice. The' consequence is that it the functions are fulfilled at all, they are most probably fulfilled' at extravagant cost, and to'the injury of those directly concerned. And then, in tho ’oase of works which County Councils .execute, they are often' Works! which .Hoad Boards could oxecute better and more cheaply. The .“.pensive public”'is doubly ratbd; and half/served. We have not far to lobk for the cause of all this imbroglio.’' In ‘ a memeut of political frenzy a precipitate Parliament tore the Constitution into shreds. What remains in our hands is spoiled by the loss of what is gone. We' do not mean what is gone in the material shape of Superintendents and Provincial Councils ; the shape was only “an outward and visible sign,” and conld be re-modelled at pleasure ; but what is gone is the immaterial spirit of local self-government which that form' embodied. Fortunately; in political the raising of spirits is not impracticable., ;C,uv duty is to 'call this lost* spirit from ‘ the vasty deep | and if he will only come, when we call, he wiE be heartily welcome, in whatever bodily guise he may be induced to reappear. The primary object to be attained is to constitute for each district—the' term district being here used in its largest local sense—a representative body with such status, means, and powers as will enable it effectively to relieve Parliament .from those functions which belong more to the district than to the colony. : Once that object is attained, the principle of reallocal self-government will bb secured. Parliament, then, will bo able to pursue its steady, ; legitimate: course, and no longer will; attracted and diverted-hither and i thither, by local in.flueuces, run zig-zag about in all directions. Wb should then, and only then, .have a Colonial, .and sot a parish Parliament.: ,