SIR GEORGE GREY ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5469, 7 October 1878, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

(From tlie Tlmarit Herald .) ‘ The position of Premier of the colony is so important, and the responsibilities properly attaching to it are generally understood to be so grave, that ,any opinions which the person holding it expresses publicly, cannot but be of considerable consequence. It would be an absurd proposition to assert that anything that the Premier may say in connection with public affairs,jis mere meaningless verbiage which it is not worth the while of any sensible person toexamine. Yet there can bo no doubt that much that Sir George Grey says, even on sen* oils occasions, when he must be aware that every word he utters will be carefully weighed both by those who agree with and by those who differ from his views, is nothing bat rhodo* moutade, and will not bear close scrutiny at all. This fact has impressed itself upon us very strongly lat-dy, with respect to the stricture which the Premier hai frequently made upon the manner in which local government is administered. It would probably be deemed improper,, to assume that the head of the Ministry is really entirely ignorant of all the circumstances and social condition of the great mass of the people, whose. affairs he nevertheless has to a great extent the control of. If, however, we must dismiss the theory that he does not know what he is talking about, we have no alternative from supposing that he wilfully misrepresents facts in order to engender or foster a prejudice ag-iinsfc'a class. The incessant burden of Ins speech is that there is no true local government in New Zealand, but that the pretence of local government that exists, is merely a machinery by which the large landed proprietors, “ the owners of vast estates,” as he is so fond of calling them, are enabled to squander public money in the improvement Of their own properties. He is never tired of inveighing against the system of plural voting at local elections, on the ground, as he specifically states, that it enables a privileged to apea I money belonging to the whole community. The funds of Counties and Eoad Boards is the money to which he, refers, and his argument is that, instead of being spent by the local bodies—which he represents as bodies composed entirely of large proprietors or their tools—-It ought to be spent by the Colonial Government. In his speech in. the House of Representatives of the 12bh ; of this month, ho put that view forward in umnisbakeable terms. After making a great number of extraordinary and utterly erroneous statements concerning, the past distribution, of the public money, he brought his remarks to a climax', thus “This year .£700,000 was to bo; taken from the earnings of the laboring classes of New Zealand and handed over to those men with plurality of votes, to be spent to protect property. Ho would say that nothing worse had ever been done in New Zealand. That was what had deprived them of the means of making roads and bridges. There were many, ways of providing for main roads. If, for instance, the 20 . per cent., and the subsidies taken from the Land ' Fund, which were to be handed over to the various counties, had been given over to the public at largo through their representatives, they would have had the means to some extent of providing communication throughout tho colony at largo. The honorable members opposite .wero,- the gentlemen who devised this plan of, handing, over the funds to their wealthy friends.” The .£700,000 spoken of as being “taken from the earnings of the laboring classes,” bo it observed, consists simply of twenty i per cent, of the Land Fund and of the subsidies paid to local bodies, including -municipalities | and the “men, with .plurality of votes” who “spend it to protect property” ,are tho ratepayers. Now, woi ask any unprejudiced and , sober-minded person whether it would be possible to conceive a more false or misleading method of stating this question than that adopted by the Premier ? What docs his argument, amount to? It amounts to this ; That the administration of local affairs by, local bodies is • bad, tyrannical, and Calculated to deprive the poorer classes of their rights in order to conserve unduly the interests of tho wealthy class; and that the administration of local affairs, even to the construction 1 of roads and bridges, by the Colonial Government, would bo preferable. Whot- is the public opinion on this point ? Wo say unhesitatingly that it is directly opposed to tho opinion of the Premier. The people generally are very well satisfied with their local government, for the simple reason that it is uot bad or tyrannical, and that it. practically enables tho people to manage their own affairs. If there wore a general election to-morrow on tho question of whether loefd government should continue to be administered by local bodies, or should be handed over to the General Assembly, we do not believe a single member would, be.returned in support of the latter view. What tlic people really want is a large extension and a clearer definition of the powers of local bodies. They arc not at all afraid of being tyrannised oyer or ground down by the-wealthy, class. Asa matter of fact it is well known that the wealthy class have no undue preponderance in tho administration of local affairs. ‘ Let us look at any of the road boards iu this district, for example, and see whether they are composed of.“owners of vast, estates,” or whether they arc composed of men representing the community generally, It is true that in Canterbury, and we. believe as a rule throughout tho colony, o fair proportion of men of substance, and of leisure, successful settlors, are found willing 1 to bear their ir sharc : in the thankless duty of administering local affairs, and we hopo tho day is far distant when they will cease-to do so. It is a libel, however, on the local bodies, And on the ratepayers as a whole, to aay that any “ privileged class” have a-monopoly of local power. Tho county councils and road boards aro mainly mado up of plain men who are selected by their neighbors on account of their public'Spirit and local knowledge and experience. There is} we are happy, to say, a marked disinclination on the part of the ratepayers to elect low men, loafers, idle fellows who have nothing to loose, but everything! to gain,by meddling in: local politics j but we de- , claro most positively-that there : is no disincli- : nation whatever to choose men of email means/ if in other respects they aro suitable candidates. Sir George Grey’s idea of a Canterbury toad boatd i» an assemblage

of haughty arisfci>ci*ittr< ) with an 'estate of ■about, u. hundred thousand . acres, apiece, who meet periodica ly. to parcel out among themselves the enormous sums which are wrung out of-the poor working men of the colony. Our idea of n Canterbury- road board is a body of farmers millers, doctors, .artisans, storekeepers, sawyers, sea captains, contractors, hotelkeepers, country gentlemen, or-any other of the nunierom denominations which are all included in'the term “settlor,” who mrot periodically to lay-out 1 the rales or. any other moneys lawfully entrusted to them for that purpose, iu the manner which they conscientiously believe to be for the general good, ’ We should like to give Sir George Grey a seat of honor at a moe'lng of the Waimuke County Council, or the Toiuuka Road Board, or the. Orari River Board, or any other- local body in Canterbury, and Jet him decide for himself whether his idea of- such matters, or ours, is the correct one. We are convinced that he/would learn more of the veal working •of local institutions in that manner than he ever knew beforehand that he would have a much greater respect for them than lie has at present, ■