LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 305, 21 June 1912, Page 6

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

REPORT ON THE CONFERENCE. At the meeting of the Hospital Board on Wednesday, Mr. E. JI a swell, one of the Taranaki delegates, gave a very interesting resume of the recent Local Government Bill conference. As one who had the honor of being appointed as a delegate to represent the local bodies of this district at the Local Government Bill conference, held in Wellington, I desire to submit a report thereon and to give my impressions in connection therewith. It will no doubt be generally thought that, as the Hon. the Minister for Internal Affairs has promised to have a full report of the proceedings of the conference printed and sent to every local body, all information desired in connection with the proceedings of the conference may be obtained therefrom. But, unfortunately, this will not be so, as practically all the real work of the conference was done by the committees, four of which were set up, and no reports of the proceedings of these committees, further than the actual resolutions, were made. And, further, it will be readily understood by all those who have had much experience in such matters, that much work can be done and matters greatly expedited in quite other ways than by open debate. In this connection, it has to be borne in mind that the Bill has 414 clauses, and is divided into 20 parts. The conference consisted of sixtytwo delegates, and the Hon. Mr. Russell was in charge of the Bill. It was quite clear, after semi-private discussion by groups of delegates before the eonference opened, that there was an overwhelming majority absolutely opposed to the Bill from beginning to end, though it was generally recognised that some amend»emt in the law was required, especially as affecting counties and as to finance. This being so, the delegates were anxious to dispose of the Bill and get to work on required amendments of the present

The opposition was most determined and almost unanimously against all the essentials of the Bill, viz., the establishing of a Local Government Board, Provincial Councils, and the parts of the Bill dealing with education and hospital and charitable aid. And much time would have been saved and better results obtained from the conference had the Minister, who had assumed the position of chairman, allowed the conference, as it desired, to deal with the Bill part by part. Had they been so permitted, a proposition, actually moved, to strike out Part 10, Education, would have at once without discussion been carried unanimously. Part 9, Hospital and Charitable Aid, would have at once met a similar fate in a similar way. The deletion of Parts 9 and 10 would have left Provincial Councils (Part 3) without any real justification for their existence, and for that and other reasons, especially the provision for giving Provincial Councils over-riding rating powers. Parts 2 and; 3 would also have gone by the board. A similar fate for Part 1, Local Government Board, would have quickly followed. The Minister, however, was Arm in his determination not to allow this procedure, and announced that a general discussion on the whole Bill would be taken and that, after that, the conference would be divided into several committees, to eaeh of which would be allocated certain parts of the Bill. A time limit of five minutes had been previously fixed, and then the absurdity of the position became apparent—the task_ of speaking to all the provisions of a Bill containing 414 clauses in that time. The result was that many did not speak, at all, and most of those that spoke were only able to touch on a few of the points they were determined should be killed absolutely—subject? that would have been struck out at the start had it been permitted—and had no time to even touch on any of the subjects on which the conference could perform any construction work. Therefore, the debate, which occupied the major portion of the time of the conference, consisted mainly of repetition expressions of almost unanimous opposition to all the main principles of the Bill. Whilst there were one or two who gave the Bill a sort of general support, there was not, so far as T could judge, one single whole-hearted supporter. Not only was valuable time that might have been applied to construction work lost oyer the debate, but it was at once obvious when the committees were set up that further considerable loss would occurr, as at least one almost unnecessary committee, viz., No. 4, Hospitals and Charitable Aid, was overloaded with members—twenty out of a total of sixty-two—who could have done excellent work on other committees.

The committees performed their work very expeditiously, sitting one evening and part of the next forenoon. The report in no case occupied one sheet of paper, of six to eight short paragraphs, as against the 99 pages of 414 clauses of the Bill, which is said to have cost over £4OO to draft. These reports were, after comparatively short discussion, adopted with some slight minor exceptions .by the conference. The only notable exception was in connection with the report of No. 1 Committee, Local Government Board, Provincial Councils, Subsidies, Grants -md' Finance. It was clear to the conference and' to the committee that the one thing in the Bill that the Minister had set his heart on was the Local Government Board. Apparently the Minister was determined that, if all else in the Bill went, he I would have the Local Government Board, and the committee and the conference were equally determined that the Local Government Board that the Minister wanted was not to be. When No. 1 Committee met, the Minister attended. The Local Government Board was the first subject, and to every objection raised to the Board the Minister replied. and finally, on the positive assurance of the Minister that there was no intention or desire to obtain any further power for the Board than the Governor-in-Council and Minister now had, the committee passed, as Clause 1 of their report, the following; "That the committee is in favor of a Local Government .Board to take over and exercise the function of the Minister and the Governor-in-Council. That passed, the Minister prepared to leave the committee, but, notwithstanding his previous assurance to the contrary, he casually let drop a suggestion of further powers that might be given to the Board, which admission, resulted, after the Minister's departure, in the committee qualifying Clause No. 1 of their report by passing Clause 2 as follows: "That the Local Government Board consist of three members appointed by Parliament for a fixed term of not less than three years; that members of Parliament shall not be eligible; that the Minister be a member of the Board ex officio." The committee was well aware, in fact, intended, that the passing of this would virtu- ' ally rescind No. 1. Tire fact that a proposition that the Minister should be chairman met with decided fun 1 effective ' opposition makes the intention clear.

When No. 1 Committee's report tame before the conference, a somewhat lengthy, and the most heated, debate of (■he meeting took place on the question. A determined endeavor was beh?<r made by a few to pass the first clause, with the intention of throwing out clause 2 which would have meant the endorsement by the conference of what appeared to lie the part of the Bill most desired by the Minister. But the conference would have none of it, and the first Iriauae—i)be eecond going as a conse-

quence—was thrown out by a most substantial vote. After a considerable time had passed, during which several clauses of the report were dealt with, and after ft short adjournment had taken place, the Minister announced tlmt lie intended to bo back to clause 1 and re-open the question of the Local Government Board, as he said he had reason to believe, through certain discussion during the adjournment, that a different decision would be arrived at. And in face of very heated protest against such a course, he proceeded to take a vote of the conference as to whether the, question should be re-opened, with the result that the opposition to the Board was still more pronounced and emphatic.

The real business, of the conference was the destruction of the Bill and the making of certain recommendations, chiefly in the direction of enlarging the powers and functions of county councils, and the absorption by them'of minor local bodies .situated within counties, the merging of smaller rural boroughs and road districts adjacent to large boroughs into the chief boroughs and cities, and recommendations as to finance. At this point I wish to refer to the question of the size and number of counties. The Minister, in his sum-ming-up speech, stated, amongst other things, that the conference had indicated that there should be a reduction in number of counties from 130 to 40 or 50. Whilst it is true that he himself indicated this in his opening speech, neither the committee (No. 3) nor the conference did so. Aft a matter of fact, both committee and conference indicated a reduction from the present number to about 80. Clause 6 of ?' •. 3 Committee's report bears this o\> to some extent, for there is just the statement, "that the number of counties should be

reduced." The conference inserted before the word "reduced" the word "materially." Much had been said about a number of ridiculous small counties which would have to be got rid of. I draw particular attention to this, as, on consideration, it must be obvious that in most cases counties could not, with the increased functions and duties resulting .from the absorption of all minor bodies within them, be increased in size to any considerable extent. The following are the substantial opinions and desires of local bodies throughout the Dominion as far as I am able to gather, as expressed by the delegates in the resolutions passed, in debate, in open conference, and in committee, and in general discussion, and also by the reports of the various meetings held throughout the country prior to the conference:—

(1) That there is no need for a Local Government Board, and that the setting up of one, especially on the lines indicated in the Bill, is viewed with great distrust and suspicion. (2) That there is no need for Provincial Councils, and that most emphatic and almost unanimous objection to any over-riding rating powers by any sueh bodies. (3) That under no consideration will any attempt to Temove the cost of education from the Consolidated Eevenue, and to place it wholly or partially on local rates, be tolerated, or any attempt to change the present national system to local systems. (4) That no interference with the present hospital and charitable aid management by way of placing it under other local or provincial bodies will be permitted. (5) That any attempt to relieve, at the expense of the local rates, the Consolidated Revenue of charges now borne by it, will be strenuously opposed. (6) That interference with the present system of local governas expressed in that of borough councils, county councils, and harbor boards, will meet with determined opposition. (7) That the present system of franchise be retained. (8) That where it seems necessary in the public interest smaller rural boroughs and road board districts adjacent to larger boroughs- and cities should be compulsorily merged. (9) That the following bodies be merged into the counties in which they are situate: Town districts with less than 500 inhabitants, road districts, harbors over which there is no harbor board, river and drainage districts, water supply boards, domain boards, cemetery boards. (10) That the Government should faithfully carry out all engagements and obligations for works that it has already committed itself to. (11) Strong opposition to the continuance of the present system of promiscuous grants for roads, bridges, and such other works, and favors a substitution of a system of increased subsidies. (12) That the system of subsidies' should be regulated by the necessities of the district as well as by the amount of rates. (13) That newly-opened lands be completely roaded at the cost of the general Government, roading to advance simultaneously with settlement. (14) That any Local Government Bill should be sent to all local bodies, and ample time be given for consideration before it is introduced in the House. In conclusion, I wish to remark that considering that all shades of political opinion were represented at the conference, the unanimity of opposition to the Bill was remarkable.