THE COUNTIES BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1920, Page 5

THE COUNTIES BILL.

OLAUSES IN THE NEW BILL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oct. 14. The Counties Bill has been returned to the House from a special committee with a number of amendments. This Bill is a consolidation of the law relatr ing to counties, and as originally presented to the House it made merely a few minor alterations although some clauses had been re-drafted wholly or in part. The committee, which took evidence, has made some amendments of importance. A person is not to be entitled to sign a petition if his rates have been unpaid for two years. The period originally stated in the Bill was six months. The number of ridings in any new county formed other than by the union of counties is not to exceed twelve. The number of electors for each riding is to be fixed as nearly as may be in proportion to rateable value and the number of electors of each riding. A riding is not to comprise any area which is part only of an undivided road district or part only of a sub-division of a divided road district or part only of a town district. ' . A ratepayer is defined as a person whose name appears for the time being in the occupiers' column of the rate book. Various amendments have been made regarding elections. The roll is to ba prepared on or before January 22 in eaclv year in which a general election of councillors is to be held. The roll is to be open for public inspection from January 27th until February 15th. Objections may be lodged up to February 22nd, and the roll will come into force on the first Wednesday in April. The disqualifications clause has been amended to cover some difficulties that have arisen in recent years. A person who is concerned or interested in a contract made by the council is to be disqualified from membership if the payment made or to be made by the Council in respect of any such, contract exceeds £5 in the case of a single contract or £lO altogether in any financial year in the case of two or more contracts, "except in special cases to be approved by the Audit Office on the application of the Council; in any such special case the Audit Office may authorise the payment and receipt of such amount as it thinks fit not exceeding in the aggregate £SO in any financial year in respect of any contract or of two or more contracts." The general election of a coUnty council is to be held trienwially on the second Wednesday in May, the first general election under this Act to take place on the second Wednesday in May, 1923. The limitation of the sanitary rate to one halfpenny in the pound on the capital value has been struck out. A new clause authorises the council to levy a special rate of such amount as will cover the estimated expenditure or to impose instead of the rate a uniform annual charge. The power of a county council to borrow on overdraft ia extended to include temporary loans from any corporation or persons as well as overdraft from a bank. Increased powers are given to councils in regard to drainage works. A council may be granted by Order-in-CounciJ the powers of a borough council for the supply of water for domestic or industrial purposes. Public halls and mortuaries are added I to the list of institutions that a country council may establish and maintain. A new clause gives the Governor-Gen-eral power, on petition, to include neighboring islands within counties. Where the capital value of all rateable property in the road districts in any county is less than two-fifths of the capital value of all rateable property in that county, the council may by special order declare the road boards dissolved and such road districts to be merged in the county. Councils are empowered, with the consent of the Minister for Agriculture, to establish cattle-dips. They .may also purchase and sell rabbit-proof wire-net-ting, and may purchase, and hire to road boards, road-making plant of any description.