GRANTS: SUBSIDIES.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 227, 4 September 1914, Page 4

GRANTS: SUBSIDIES.

|To Out' Local Bodies.

Far-reaching Changes.

Latest Government Proposals.

It will be remembered by our readers that the Franklin County Council urged Upon the Prime Minister to secure for it one big general grant instead of the multitudinous small grants and subsidies now obtained bv the county.

A Bill embodying anew system of pairs ;md Mibs;di<\s was introduced in!o the 11ou-e of IJepnsenfaiivis on Friday evening

The interpretation clause oi tlie I Bill is important. '' Construction ' j and '• construction \v< rk " mean the I con-tt nction of new w >rk. lhe terms include works in !:eu of works which have b"(ome insutticient or useless ovdestr .ye I by live, tempest. Hood or eartin|u..ke, and the metalling of a ioal not previously metalled or not * previously sutlicientlv metalled, and the formation (,f a road not previously pioptrly formed or laid out The term j •'local authority " is applied in the | liili or.lv to county councils, load j bonds, and town boards. "Local work " includes every work which a j local authority is authorise 1 t > uud r'ake ex< ept railways, tramways, ! aid buildings other than bridges. II i \ 1.1 > 1 I M \KIoHANTS. j The di>ti iin-tion of grants from the Fubl c Wo ks Fund is to he | made by a I o;;vd of works. This I buaid is"to consist of three persons appoin'id !■ \ lie Governor for a i torn of live vents. Any member of j the hoard miy he suspended by the UoveiLor IV.r misbehaviour or incompeiei;ce, r.n 1 restored to office only by lesolution ol the House of Representatives. 'lbis board is to have all the powers of a commission appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. The sal ants of the chairman and the other two members of the board are not defined by the Bill.

Applications for grants are to be c assiiied by the board with regard to the principle that the primary purpose of grants is the construction of roads and bridges, and that only in cases ot exc ptional urgency and importance may grants be made for other works. The follow ing classification is proposed Class 1. : Local works, which the board deems to be urgently required in the interest of the public generally, as well as of local benefit. Class 11. : Local works in districts where the settlement of Crown lands has been effected for a peiiod exceeding three years, and whei« > the settlers are not provided with sufficient roads. Class 111. : Local woiks in di-tnets, the local authorities of which pre subject to disadvantage by reason of sparse settlement, the existence of large areas of unoccupied Ciown land or of native land, and d iliculty in procuring suitable material for metalling roads. Class IV. : All other local woiks, KKVMoN l;Y »Al:!.l AMIiNT. The amount available from the Public Works Fund for expenditure upon local works in each year is to be .state 1 by the Minister for Finance in the Financial Statement. A report is then to lie prepared by the Board of Works, allocating this sum in grants for local works, giving preference to the various applications according to the special classification. The recommendations of the board are t > be embodied in the Public Woiks Fstimates, which are to consist of two parts, the firit part being estimates of the expenditure proposed, exclusive of grants for local works, and the second part being estimates for grants for local works in accordance with the alloations recommended by tho board.

The second pait of thn Bill ■ e..ls with bubsiiioi IV m the Consolid;U<d Fund to c-fiuiitynuimils, nnd 1j aids and town boards which at pnsoi.t do not receive subsidies accor.ling to a permanent Act, but according to the I annual Appropriation Act. Tire Bill provides a statutory appropriation in proportion to the general rates collet- ; ted by the local authority, the eub- ! sidy for a county c mncil being 10s in i the £ on a sum not exceeding £'■ 000, and it in the £ for a sum exceeding Elooo, with a minimum of £SOO and a maximum of £2500. Boad districts j am io receive a subsidy of 10- in the c ~n rates amounting up to £SOO, a,.d s>in the £ on larger mihk, with (l minimum of £250 and a miMuium of £-500 Town dis'iicts are to ie-rr-ivo ,*,s in the £ on rates up to 17-Vi. I and 2s fid in the £ on larger -urns. . with a minimum of £l*7 10* and a maximum ol £ 150. A further sum e.|iia! to one -fourth of the aggregate amount r-quired to pay tlic"<s sub-idies is to be paid to the Board of Works, to be apportioned among local bodies, subject to the advantages eproiiied in c'ass three, to be expended in the maintenance and repair of such roads mid bridges as the board directs, and i upon construction works sp dally I authorised by the boaid.