THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1895. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2812, 7 May 1895, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1895. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

The Road Board Conference held in Geraldine last week took do steps to alter present, arrangements, pending the Local Government Bill, which, it is anticipated, will be laid before Parliament next session. In this respect they acted wisely. It ia absolutely certain that the Ministry have some scheme of local government in hand, and will introduce it next session, but what it is no one seems to know. The Premier in one of his speeches is reported to have Baid that it would be a modified form of provincialism, and the Press Association is responsible for telegraphing that the whole of the colouy would be divided into two or three districts, and that these would form county councils |As Mr Kelland put it, this can only be regarded as a joke. Whatever the Premier's scheme is, it is absolutely certain that he could not do anything so ridiculous as to dream of dividing the colony into two or three counties. The preseut Government have so far shown such a thorough appreciation of the wants of the colony that no one can suspect them of having contemplated such a foolish scheme. We have frequeutly pointed out what we believe to be the form of local government we require, and we are glad to find that Mr Talbot practically agrees with us. Mr Talbot said the whole of South Canterbury should be one county, with smaller local bodies doing purely local work. That is exactly what is wanted, but it is necessary to understand why the area should be limited to South Canterbury. The reason is not far to seek. South Canterbury is a district bound together by community of interests,'because all its parts converge to the port of Timaru. The residents of all parts of South Canterbury have business relations with the port and town of Timaru. They meet there, they interchange ideas there, they sell their goods there, they export and import, and transact their business there, and for this reason they are bound together by the ties of common interests. South Canterbury is a compact c»mmunity isolated for all pradtical purposes from the remainder of the colony. Of course our splendid highways and railways give ns free aud easy access to the districts north and south of us, but our actual business intercourse in either direction is very small indeed. Seldom a resident north of the Rangitata or south of the Waitaki is seen transacting business in Timaru. It is true, of course, that our storekeepers aud merchants have extensive business relations with Dunedin and Christchurch, but we are . excluding these from any consideration in connection with the question of local government. What we are considering is the business connected with the natural products of the district, the farming interests, iu fact, and without a doubt 90 per cent of that is transacted in Timaru. That being so, it is plain that South Canterbury is bcund together by the ties of common interest. Our Harbor Board is a South Canterbury institution, on which all parts of the district is represented, and it is our opinion that a county council similarly constituted would be found to work satisfactorily. There is no reason why thio~shonld not undertake hospital and charitable aid management, as well as attend to the main trunk road, and all the bridges in the district. If, however, it is entrusted with the maintenance of local roads the greatest dissatisfaction will be the result, and from the moment it takes charge of them we shall not have an hour's peace until it is subdivided into smaller areas again. We need only refer to the past to be convinced of this. The people of South Canterbury were not satisfied until they got the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works. Notwithstanding that the people thought then that this would meet all ,their requirements, they discovered it was' not sufficient to minister to their wants, and road boards came into existence. Then Geraldine was not satisfied with being governed from Temnka, and separated from it, and more recently still Mount Peel followed suit. From this it will be seen that the desire to manage their own local affairs is almost a passion vrith the people of this colony. Nothing will satisfy them unless they can see that the rates they pay are spent iu their own locality. This is made still more absolutely certain by ihe recent action of residents in water-supply districts. I hose water-races wore made by the couuty council, aud there ia no W to enable the management of them to be handed ovor to any other body. But, _notwithstanding this fact, the rosidouts iu watersupply districts pestered the council until it had to hand ovor the supervision of the water races to local committees. These committees have no legal status whatsoever, r.nd yet they are extremely jealous of any interference on the part of the courcil. We have no fault to find with those committees, we believe they are doing good work, and that it is to tho advantage of the district that they obtained the supervision of tho races, but does not tho fact that they forced themselves into' existence prove beyond doubt that this passion "for local supervision and management ia so Btrong that it will

assert itself, aud insist on being satisfied ? j Nothing can be more certain than this. If South Canterbury were one county to-morrow, public opinion would force into existence local bodiea to do local works. The people have got used to their local bodieß ; like Sam Slick's clock, they cannot do without them, and the Ministry who will attempt to take from them what they regard as their right will make a huge mistake. For these reasons we trust that in any scheme of local government which the Premier may introduce he will respect this very active and ingrained sentiment. What is wanted is to constitute every district converging to a seaport or market town, and bound together by common interests a county, and give the councils thereof control of the larger and more important works, especially bridges. Nothing is more pitiable than to see two small local bodies quarrelling over the maintenance of a boundary bridge, and yet this has been often witnessed. Large county councils controlling extensive districts will do away with this, but it is no use to expect them to do the work done at present by road boards. This is what the framers of the proposed measure ought to keep in view, and if they do it they will give satisfaction. For instance, South Canterbury could be one county ; then another county of the area converging to Oamarn; another to Dunedin, and so on. The larger the county the better, so long as community of interests are considered, but unless this is done the Act must ultimately prove a failure, even if it were administered by angels.