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Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 165, 8 November 1876, Page 2

Though there is no direct notification as to the date that the Counties Bill will come into operation, it may be inferred that it will be at the beginning of 1877, as the Superintendents of the various provinces, with the exceptions of Sir George Grey and Mr Macandrew, representing Auckland and Otago, have agreed, on the invitation of the Government, to carry on the Provincial business till the 31st December. Mr Carrington and Mr Kelly will act in their late respective capacities for the Province of Taranaki till that time. How Otago and Auckland will get on with, or rather without, their contumacious rulers, is hard to say. Possibly the dire ideas of rebellion that have been foolishly held out may bo simmering in the breasts of these gentlemen, but it is impossible to believe them such absolute idiots, and if they decline to administer the affairs of those provinces, the Government will simply depose them and put others to act in their stead. As to the idea of aimed opposition, only a lunatic like Sir George Grey could think of it. Abolition is a fact, and all that an imbecile ex-Governor can do to restore his constitutional hobby to its old position must he in vain. Mr Macandrew has more sense, hut may offer a good deal of passive resistance, in the shape of withholding information and declining to afford any assistance to the new regime. What will come of it remains to be seen. In connection with the coming into operation of the Counties Bill, it was generally thought that a< least no more Eoad Boards would be created, though those existing would not bo interfered with, but such seems to have been a mistake, inasmuch as in Taranaki five new districts are prod aimed. ’ „We can hardly think that the Counties and Eoad Boards will long work harmoniously together, as their respective authorities must in all probability clash in some way or other, and it may boa question whether the creation of additional Boards is a wise step. By the provisions of the Counties Act, Eoad Boards may amalgamate with Counties, and it is to be hoped, in the interests that they represent, that this union will be extensively had recourse to, as soon as the County system is fairly in working order, which should be in a few months. If the County Councils prove as successful as is anticipated, there cannot be a doubt that one extended'local Board—for a County Council will be nothing else—will be more powerful for good than'half-a-dozen petty ones, and that the advantage of the inhabitants would be studied by such combination. _ The question is worthy of consideration at once, though it maybe some months before County matters work smoothly enough to justify action on the part of the Eoad Boards, to effect the co-operation.