LIVERPOOL COUNTY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 40, 25 May 1915, Page 2

LIVERPOOL COUNTY.

! The proposal to detach the northern halt of the di9trict now controlled by the Raglan County Council and to create for its administration a new authority under the title of the Liverpool County Council should receive the whole-hearted support ot the ratepayers of the district concerned. That the abnormal size ot Kaglan County as it at present exists defeats the main object of "Home Rule" is beyond question. The area of the County is some 824 square miles or 33 square miles in excess of the area of Franklin and Manukau Uiunties combined. Some three years ago as the result of recogt.ised inability to satisfactorily manage the affairs (f such an extensive territory as under Manukau County that County was split up and Franklin County was establi hed, and already there is a movement on foot, although not yet fully matured, for the southern part cf Franklin County to be subdivided into another County district. All thii only goes to prove that the promoters of the proposed Liverpool County have a strong case to present to Parliament. Each member of th 3 Raglan County Council has an average of nearly 80 square miles in Lis respective tiding, and however good his intentions it is a moral impossibility for him to be intimately acquainted with the wants and requirements of (he people resident in the remote paits cf his constituency. Then again, however attentive a councillor may be, it is the Council's expert in the person of the County Engineer who must necessarily devise and carry out roading and bridge schemes, and other works tor which a County Council is responsible. On this point also it cannot be gainsaid that it is beyond the powers of the Raglan County Engineer, or even two officials, to bupervise or give requisite attention to such a huge area of country as 824 square miles. Further, in the instance of all County authorities it is recognised that to air a grievance or to submit a petition or request for schemes of general utility deputations should be enabled to wait on the governing body. Except from a limited area this privilege is practically denied to the ratepayers of Raglan County, more particularly in the northern portion, since a journey to headquarters at Ngaruawahia is not only costly but entails an inroad on time that can ill be spared by the busy farmer. The Legislature has wisely decreed, presumably with the idea ot better results in local government being secured thereby, that with the possession of a specified total of population, a Borough Council or a Town Board can automatically be called into being. Consequently, when such a good case arises, as already mentioned for the creation of a new County as exists for the Liverpool County, Parliament should have no hesitation in authorising its establishment. There is an old and truthful adage that the man who pays the piper calls the tune, and since the ratepayers concerned are practically unanimous on the point their just and ieasonable iequeet deserves on its intrinsic merits to gain the desired objective.