CIVIL ADMINISTRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 March 1919, Page 6

CIVIL ADMINISTRATION.

(SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS. The town clerk of New Ply-mouth (Mr F, T 'Bellringer) was recently instructed "oy the council to submit a report upon the system of municipal administration in New Zealand embodying suggestions as to how it can be improved and giving particulars of the American system of a sole administrator of all the departments of a town or city. Mr Bellringer lias written a lengthy and interesting report. Dealing wit'i the New Zealand system he suvs:—

The affairs of a borough are controlled by a mayor and council elected by popular vote. The franchise is wide, and practically every resident of the borough, male and female, over the age of 21 years has the right to be enrolled and to vote. Tho various Acts of Parliament confer a very large measure of self-government upon each borough or city, and each council has ample powers to manage its own affairs. The mayor is the presiding officer of the council ard although he possesses very litt.le if any more legal power than an ordinary councillor, still in actual practise he is generally held responsible for the general administration of the council, and for its financial operations during his term of office. The administration work of a. borough is almost invariably divided into departments to the control and supervision of which the council appoints committees of varying numbers. Tn addition each department has its own official head. The town clerk is the chief executive officer, and in theory exercises a general supervision of all departments. One misrht feel that such an organisation should be ample to orovide for efficient administration. The results in most cases are, however, disappointing. I think it may be said to be a genera! experience that, new councillors come into office with the greatest optimism as to the improved methods they pronose to introduce into the council's business, only to find that after they | hevc been in office a short period they are subjected to the same criticisms which thev themselves in many cases directed towards their predecessors. It, is a remarkable fact that right throughout New Zealand, and particularly in the smaller communities, civic administration seems to attract much keener criticism than the administration of Government departments or the administration of large public companies. Successful business man give their services, time and energv as members of the council, onlv to be told at the end of their term of office that their administration has been a failure or at the least that it might well have been much ifinre efficient than it has been. These men in many cases are keen business men and men valued as competent®directors of large business concerns, but thfir administration of the civic affairs is subjected to equally as much criticism as some of their predecessors who have bad little or no experience in the administration of a large business. This experience is not peculiar to any particular town but is common to nearly all borough and cities in New Zealand. This being so we are justified in assuming that a serious defect does exist in municipal administration throughout New Zealand. The fact that the same state of affairs is apparent in every borough seems to indicate that the defect is inherent in the system of administration, and that the fault does not lie in the personnel of the different councils. Mr BellringeT proceeds to examine the reasons why such criticism arises and then discusses the question of city administration by commission and the city manager plan, leading him to the following conclusions:— From a careful study of the various systems and the arguments advanced for and against each, I am satisfied that the constitution of borough and city councils in New Zealand and the powers granted to them to manage their own affairs leave little to be improved upon. Their powers in some directions might will be increased, but. this is a minor matter and will no doubt come in due course. It is however, in the system of administration that improvements lare necessary. The present system was quite sufficient in the old days prior to the time when councils entered into commercial businesses such as gasworks, electric lighting, tramways, etc. Having entered into commercial enterprises councils must apply commercial methods to their administration. The first thing a commercial company does upon entering into business is to look round for a good man as general manager to manage its affairs. If a company finds it necessary to do this how much more necessary is it for a municipal council to do likewise considering that in most cases it has not one, but several large commercial undertakings to manage and control. I believe that before many years have passed the general manager plan will be in operation in all the larger towns in New Zealand. In the early stages there will be difficulties and the principal difficulty will be in finding men with the necessary experience, force of character and administrative ability to undertake the duties:of general manager. The success or failure of the scheme in any particular town will depend entirely upon the man appointed. 1 i • That there are men in New Zealand capable of successfully discharging': the responsibilities and duties of such a position no one will deny, but councils, in order to obtain the services of the best men, must'be prepared to pay salaries commensurate with the responsibilities undertaken. If this be done the best will be attracted and the municipality will lie the gainer. A high salary iff an economy when it purchases ability and an efficient general manager will save liis salary time and again throughout the year by economies which he will be able to effect in the administration". As time goes on and more towns adopt the scheme the difficulty of obtaining experienced men will graudally disappear. That the scheme will eventually become general throughout New Zealand I am satisfied, and the sooner this happens the sooner will municipal administration be placed upon the same level of efficiency with the larger commercial businesses of the day.