The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1905. LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7703, 4 January 1905, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 1905. LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN AUSTRALIA.

The membership of local bodies is not always regarded as desirable, and it is not f uncommon in this country to have vacancies filled with the greatest difficulty. In Australia there is a great awakening to the value of the services rendeved to the community by the local bodies, and some interesting remarks thereon are furnished (by a travelling correspondent of the Southland Times. This gentleman, who evidently is a keen observer, writes that 'tho people are beginning to realise something of the power they have at their command wherewith to curb the growing power of Parliament. He writes :—"I find pretty well all over the colonies that there is a rapidly growing feeling of respect towards the representatives of local government bodies. The colonial js beginning to understand that the man who is prepared to work in the interest and for the jjpod of his fellows is much more worthy, and a great deal more likely to be an ho»ourable man, than the one who is a public man simply for what he can make out of the life ; in other words the man who serves the public merely for the honour and in the hope of doing some good for his fellows is much more deserving of respect than the man who demands hjs £3OO down. This respect for the worker on public bodies is growing, and it is shown by the fact that at nearly every public ceranomy a like increasing contempt for the mere politician manifests itself. Perhaps this is as it shouK be, but see what the consequences are. The class- of men who are getting into paid public life are generally self-seek"ers, or those who someday hope to be Ministers. It is purely a mercenary class of people who are entering the higher branches of public life, while in the affairs of local self-government the very best and most patriotic men are often to be found at the head of affairs. Tho utter contempt that is expressed openly, and that is common talk at street corners, regarding the lives and characters of the public men of the colonies is clearly set against the finer character and tho business ability of the reoresentatives on the various local bodies. It is a. splendid object lesson, aw] is being noted by all classes. The manhood and womanhood suffragists are noting the result too. The growth of municipal power and local goverivment must result from this phase. Everywhere one goes the fact is patent that local government is working out a great future. Local government, too, is ever towards growth and not division. It is the universal experience that a large body can be much more cheaply and satisfactorily managed in the "interests of the ratepayers than a small and paltry little local body. Everywhere the cry is "combination," and where paltry 1/ttle local jealousies and local feeling ' prevail questions and works in the interests of all cannot bg undertaken. You wilj realise something of the force of the position into which local government is drifting by a comparison of the votes for local and general works granted by the Government now and ten years ago. You wiii see that the central government is gradually shifting the burden of carrying on a lot of works to the shoulders of the county "ratepayers. The thing has been going on so slowly that few people may have noticed it, but the influence and effect that it must have is evident. The hxal ratepayers will very soon come to realise that the local power is an important, valuable,'mid effective form of government—a form of government, too, that has the power to tax, tax, tax, When tile ratepayers get this •important fact into their heads and fully realise that it is to their interests to see that power is given to them to perform and carry on their local affairs in the general interest of all, then we shall have more rapid changes come over tho scene than most folk imagino. Tiie valuable lessons that are now belu taught by the splendid system of local government that is growing up and the purity of motive and aim of the representatives of the rutpp/iyors is doing a vast amount of good to the electors all over the colonies. We may feel sure that when the ralepayers come to realise that all the money, or nearly all the money, Unit is expended! by the local authority comes directly out of ) his own pocket he will take a more lively interest 'than lie does at present in local matters. It is very certain thut the various colonics cannot go back' to the old and very bad system of voting, public money to local authorItlM without being able to control J'he expenditure. For one thing the general fiiml,s of none of the colonies can stand- it,' Subsidies to local bodies have -gradually gone d.iwn in New Zealand, and more and jnora the burden of local work's has foeeif thrown on th<j district ratepayers, and this is being felt by the increasing local rates. In Victoria, too, is a further ('illustration. 'l'he annual grants for the last twelve years have been close on £'1.">0,000, while for <#ie Jas! year it was; down to £50,000. -this is u, tremendous drop, but it is bringing with Ist a due sense of local responsibility. Ka,tepay (V rs are forced to realise that they must p&y ior the facilities that they reciuire in the shape of roads ami bridges. 'J'his is where and how the effect, of greater responsibility in the management of local affairs is going to inluenco local self-government. Jtateliayers are bound to become more solicitous of their power to protect uid manage their own affairs, and i;t wiii b,« more in tho nature of an object less.on ip the. more general politics of the .country' i.li;jt its inJirect effect will lie felt, Miiijlo y.,ur ocal affairs are being managed i,md ;onducted on thci lines tit present ulopted, and while such an honourible class of men come forward to •eprescnt the ratepayers it hfiist be < evident that the riff-raff that are got,ing into paid polilieul life must < ;oon give place to a better mid more nselhsli class" Although one may ot agree with nil that is written ibove, there ts no doubt a good deal pf_itthat is ivprth i:hJnWi!g over.

THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR. Tke telegrams in yesterday morning's paper indicated very plainly that the next intelligence would be that Port Arthur had- capitulated. And so it proved, for early in the day the news eame through that General Stoessel had accepted the Jnpanese terms of surrender, and that arrangements had been made lor ai formal capitulation. There will be a general sense of satisfaction that this part of the contest between .Japan and Russia has been' brought to a finish. The niagnili- | cent defence ol this fortress for i nearly a year by General Stoessel and his garrison has earned the admiration of tho world, and has placed tho general's reputation as a great soldier and a man of inlinite resource beyond possible doubt. But while admiring the stubborn will and clever defence of the Russians one must not lose sight of the; still greater achievement of the attacking larmy. Port Arthur was . deemed to be an absolutely impregnable fortress l . Everything that Russian men and money could procure, every barrier that it was possible to raise, every device that military skill could bring into execution by sea affld land—all had been concentrated on Port Arthur and its surroundings in fu,U faith that an enemy could never gain admittance to tho gates. Hut for the second time the Japanese are in possession;, and it meeds but little wisdom tp assert that this time they will not bo easily, got rid of. The magnitude of the task they undtertook has .been unfolded during tho last ten months, but it is safe to say that the perseverance, the courage and the selff-sacrifice with which it has been carried out have never been surpassed in the. wars of the world, and although we at this distance from tho Bcene may fully appreciate .. tho achievement wo shall but faintly realise the tremendous difficulties by which it was surrounded. Tho; fortunes of Port Ar thuc have been followed with, keen interest, and in the opinion of moat people it would have been a wise and humane step to have surrendered weeks ago, for even then the •nd appeared inevitable. Had that beon dono, much bloodshed and suffering would have been saved, but in the game of war these things do not count for much. It is, how. ver r , matter for congratulation that , those responsible for the holding ;of Port Arthur havo at lost realised that it was a forlorn hope, and by capitulation have averted the slaughter that must have ensued when the besiegers gained forcible entry to tho town, which would have undoubtedly eventuated in a few days. Tho Incidents recorded in our telegraphic messages wil,l be read with eagerness, and will tend t» revive interest in the war, and speculation as to what the next gr«at move will be.

On the Fourth Page, Athletic Sports. London's Coliseum. A Business Proposition. A Christmas Eve Prank".