The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3992, 14 October 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1881.

We understand the residents of Te Aroha, feeling aggrieved at the treatment received at the hands ;of the Piako County Council, are taking steps to have the district proclaimed as a Road Board. We doubt if provision is made for such a proceediug in any Act relating to such matters, unless it be in tome provincial ordinance; for it was never contemplated by the framers of the Counties Act that districts once in a County would ever desire to leave it. There is in the Counties Act directions for the merging of Road Districts into Counties, and the Counties Act Suspension Bill, introduced by the Government last session had for its object the enabling persons residing in C iunties, by an ascertained majority of their number, to suspend altogether the operation of the Counties Act, but the Bill did not pass. This measure the Government were compelled to introduce in order to meet the great demand on the part of Road Boards to be allowed to control the affairs of particular districts, and it will be remembered that during last session a petition was presented from forty fi>e Road Boards in the northern portion of the Auckland Provincial District, which stated that the provisions of the Counties Act were;not suitable to the wants of their districts, and asking for power to suspend the Act. But this question of course brought up that of Local Self Government, one of the burning questions of the day, and one which the Government shirked during the past session. It was mainly owing to the fact that the particular form of local self Government had not been determined that the House refused to put another patch on the Counties Act. We have frequently pointed out that many alterations were required in the Counties Act to to make it suitable to the wants of the people. It must either be materially altered, or wiped out of the statute book altogether, for as at present it does not at all meet the shifting circumstances of the colony. Many persons are of opinion that the Road Board system is the simplest, the most inexpensive in working, and the best adapted to localities with scattered populations, while others consider that even more extended powers, than at present given to Counties, should be granted, so that County Councils, in fact should become small Provincial Councils. The municipal form of Government is without doubt the best adapted for towns, settled districts, or where people are pretty thickly congregated, and if Road Boards were to be established and .as

materially assisted by the Central Government as Counties hare been, there would be little difficulty in carrying on the work of the country, the General PnTommnnt ,ii a- .it • j Government a tending to all mam roads, bridges, &c. This subject will no doubt bo discussed during the coming parlinmeutary election campaign.