The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1876.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 134, 22 July 1876, Page 2

The Patea Mail. PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAYS SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1876.

Thr Counties Bill, one of the chief instalments of local self-government, to take the place of departing Provincialism, has been introduced, and wo subjoin an abstract of the leading provisions of this very important measure. It provides first that the Act shall come into operation on the day upon which the Abolition of Provinces comes into force, which at present is fixed for the 29th ot September' next. There arc thirty-nine counties, and these will he sub-divided into ridings, wards in fact, each of which will return their members. The boundaries of each are set out, the Patea county being thus defined :

This county ir; hounded towards the north by the southern boundary of the county of Taranaki, .hereinbefore described, from the mouth of the Hangatahna river to the summit of the western -watershed of the Wanganui river, near the eastern corner of the Mangaotuku b’oek ; thence towards the cast by lines from hill to hill along the summit of the said watershed by Malaimoana. Taumatarata. Tauraugapiopio* to Taparaugiora; thence along a ridge, separating the watersheds of the Waitotara river, and Kai J.wi stream, to Tntukaikatoa ; thence by a ridge and the summit of the liangitatau range to the nearest point to Aramai.ro Trigonometrical Station ; thence by a right line to the north-east comer of the Anroa native reserve : thence 'ey the northern boundary of the Wailotara block to the Wftitotara river, and thence by the centre of that river to the ocean.

Boroughs are to form no pert of any county, and two counties, Taupo and Fiord, are, ft r the present, to be exempted from the operation of the Act. The inhabitants of every comity will bo constituted a body corporate with a common scab The first council shall in no case consist of more than seven members, exclusive of the chairman, and the number will be determined by the Governor in proclaiming the ridings. Power is given to the Governor to alter the boundaries, and councils may increase the number of county ridings and members to -nine, exclusive of the chairman, if they think fit. The qualification for members and voters is similar to that of Road Boards, rolls being provided in a similar manner, but for the first election any person resident in a riding, being on some electoral roll, will bo entitled to bo elected or vote, as also holders of minors’ rights and business licenses. The usual disabilities from office attach, and a penalty of fifty pounds is provided for any person, incapacitated by any of them, who may act or vote as a member. The first council will hold office till the second Thursday of November next, succeeding the first election, and every subsequent council for three years from the second Thursday in November, on which clay the first council leave office. Cumulative voting is to be permitted, so ratepayers on rateable property of less than £SO havo one vote ; over £SO and less than £IOO, two votes ; over £IOO hut less than £l5O, three; over £l5O but less than £350, four; £350 and over, five votes. Rolls are are to be formed in the same way as with other bodies of the same nature. The chairman is to be elected by the ratepayers. Every candidate must deposit £l.O on being nominated, and any one failing to poll one-eighth of the number polled by the successful candidate forfeits that sum. No person, whatever his qualification, can give more than one vote for the chairman. The first chairman will only hold office till the third Wednesday in the month of November next following his election, after which the electors shall elect the chairman on the last Wednesday in October every three years. The chairman, who may or may not he paid, at the discretion of the council, is to bo ex officio’ a j.P. during his term of office, but is ineligible as a candidate for the House of Representatives, or to he called to the Legislative Council. The mode of council elections is the ordinary one. Each council can frame by-laws, under certain conditions, for regulating their meetings and proceedings, the duties, salaries, &c,, of their officers, for the establishment and management of markets, for pedlars and hawkers, slaughter-houses and pounds. All officers of councils are to give security for the faithful execution of their duties, and no-member is to be capable of holding any office whatever. The County Fund is to consist of rates, tolls levied on county roads, subsidies from the Assembly, publicans’, hawkers’, brewers’ licenses, and dog taxes. Though auctioneers’ or other licenses are not mentioned specially, they are probably included as 11 other license fees derived under any Acts or Ordinances of a Provincial Legislature.” In addition to these, the fund will take the residue of the laud revenue, rents, <&c., from reserves, fines and penalties recovered under the Act, loans, subscriptions, ahd voluntary donations. It will not, we

imagine, bo largely swelled by the last named. Power is given to levy rates, general and special, ami councils may, in eases of poverty, remit the same. In no case is the rate to exceed a shilling in the pound. Authority is conferred to enter into contracts, construct public works, within or without the county, cooperate with other counties in doing so, found or contribute to charitable institutions, and deal with reserves and places of public recreation. After five years councils are to bo liable to contribute towards • primary education, ami for police maintenance. They may raise ordinary and special loans for the construction of public works, and may issue debentures as security for the same, repayment to bo a first charge on the County revenue, and the amount in no case to exceed three times the receipts of the county fund for the preceding year. Special loans for particular works may only be raised on a month’s notice being given, and by a special vote of the ratepayers ot the riding, in which the work is to ho executed. Interest on loans is not to exceed seven per cent, and to be payable half-yearly. Road districts may bo merged into counties, on the petition of a majority of the inhabitants ol such districts. The above is only a very bare outline of the proposed Act, winch contains 203 clauses, with nine schedules attached, the first defining the counties’ boundaries, but it will at least give our readers an idea of what the Government’s views arc.