Too Many Counties

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 252, 23 March 1914, Page 6

Too Many Counties

AUAIXST COMMUNITY OF IXTKRF.ST. CENTRAL J SAT] ON WANTED. Not total abolition of county eomi- ■ Is, but a. very 'material reduction of their number, and a readjustment of county boundaries to allow of centralisation and adequate distribution of general road revenue and the establishment of more complete community of interest was the keynote of an interesting discussion at a conference of Taranaki county councils held at Eltham on Saturday. ''There are too many county councils in the country," said Mr. ,1. Qiiinu (Ellliiim County Council) in the course of his remarks. He stood, he continued, for the readjustment of county boundaries on the principle of community of interest. The present county boundaries were making' an equitable adjustment of toll gate charges and general upkeep of roads between one council and another impossible. The Klthasn comity should never have come into existence. The llawera county extended to liiiilia and down to Paten. Waimate, a wealthy county, was hedged in on nil sides by toll gates or subsidies. The Egmont county ratepayers were travelling over the roads in Waimate, and either the ITawcra or Waimate counties should not be in existence. He had fought for community of interest fur years, but in vain. Toll gates were a relic of the dark ages, and should be as few as possible. The sooner we pot down to bedrock and adjusted the boundaries of the counties, the better for all concerned. To reduce the number of counties would cut down administrative expenditure considerably if it did nothing else. Much money was now being wasted hv small counties.

In reply to a question by Mr. Hughes, he said that the boundaries of the districts must depend on their geographical position. The subsidy paid to County Councils should be universal. The last Dominion conference had recognised this. There should be central administrative depots for seeing to the upkeep of the roads in one wide district, and no more pettifogging local bodies each with its complete and expensive road plant, the one overlapping the other. There was no solution but the establishment of community of interest. He moved that a recommendation be made to the Government accordingly. Mr. Goodland: Did I understand you to say that the Eltham county should never have been in existence? Why, you were the man who fixed its boundaries.

Mr. Quinn: Xo. I fought it bitterly. Mr. Goodland: 1. say you were, though with no disrespect to you.

Mr. Quinn: J refer you to the press reports at the time. ' If I had fixed them I would never have left one road in Kaponga with no revenue. Mr. Goodland, after a little further discussion, withdrew his remarks.

Mr. I). .1. Hughes (Waimate) endorsed Mr. Quiuu'n views on communitv of interest.

In answe.- to Mr. Goodland. Mr. Quinn said that the railway line should be the boundary of the counties, as it was the outlet for the produce. Mr Goodland: That would mean, for instance, that the roads to the west of llawera would carry all the traffic for the district.

Mr. Quinn: And other small counties would be abolished. There would be no penalty.

Mr. ChrislofTel (Stratford): You arc going back 30 years, for then there was only the Patea county, followed later by Taranaki and llawera, and later by Stratford, Waimate, Egmont and Eltham.

Mr. Hughes: But the progress of the district lias altered the aspect of the. .question, and the present position is no longer possible. < 'KXTRALLSKG TOLL-GATES. Mr. (loodlaud said that the statement frequently made that the revenue from the South road toll-gate was more than sufficient to keep. up the South and Normanby roads, was not correct. He quoted figures in support of this, ft was not true that money raised'on the ■South road was spent on other roads. Mr. D. Scott (Waimatc) supported Messrs Quinn and Hughes regarding county boundaries. At the present time Egmont and Waimatc counties and part of llawera and Eltham all sent their produce to market by one railway line, constructed out of public revenue, to which all classes of the community directly or indirectly contributed. The present system of collecting' revenue was unjust. There should be a moie equitable basis of collection. In spite of what Mr. Ooodland had said, he thought that money collected as toll on one road was often expended on another. The producer from the railway line -back, should have an access free of toll to that line by road. Toll-gates should be close to the railway and the tolls collected should be centralised and equitaby distributed. The collection could be done T>y the local bo J;/ elosest to the railway. The money would then go for the benefit of ihe main arterial road. As it was new, some of the toll-gates were erected principally for spite. By a revision of boundaries, he believed t they could in time be abolished. Regarding Government subsidies on rates, he thought they should be uniform. Mr. Quinn said if he could bring about his desires in these respects, he would go out of public life satisfied.

It was unanimously decided that the conference approach the Oovernmen* mi support of a revision of county boundaries on a more equitable basis, with a view to community of interest and the benefit of the taxpayers of \>,v Zealand. Also to support (lie payment of subsidy on a uniform rate of os m the £ on rates up to %<1 . Mr. Sander (Clifton) intralucid the question of imposing a direct t:ix on motor spirits, to he handed ove- to the local body in whose district it was sold, but the meeting, while supporting the idea was of opinion that it would be useless to suggest it, owing to (lie dilHculty in discriminating between spirit used for motor vehicles and for milking machines, and such other purposes.