THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1910. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10062, 9 August 1910, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1910. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

For the last ten or twenty years New Zealand has been threatened with a comprehensive measure having for its object the reform of the system of local government. The . late Mr Seddon went so far as to circulate a Bill dealing with the subject This was referred to a committee of the House, and to the Counties' Conference, by which it was so severely handled that it never again saw the light of day. The proposal of the late Prime Minister was to provide local authorities with enlarged functions, similar in fact to the original Provincial Councils. The principle underlying the Bill was conceded by the Counties' Conference as admirable, but the details were so full of anomaly and ambiguity that they were at once pronounced unworkable. Since that Bill was relegated to political oblivion, promise after promise has been made that another measure would be introduced; but these promises have been so repeatedly broken that in latter years they have never been treated seriously. We now have it stated authentically, however, that a Local J Government Bill is to be introduced this session. Prom the scraps of information which have fallen from Ministers, it would appear that the ' Bill is to contain a number of far- i reaching provision?. A proposal tore- I duce the number of local authorities I a in the Dominion, and thereby mini- a

mise tha coat of administration to the taxpayers, is necessarily a feature of the measure. With this proposal most people will be in accord. The growth in number of local bodies, especially in recent years, has been abnormal, and the cost of clerical work, engineering and office maintenance, has been excessive. The Government of the day, which pretended a desire to ex f end the powers of local bodies, is to blame for having yielded under pressure to the demands made upin it for the multiplication of these bodies, The difficulties in the wav of effecting reform are greater to-day than they were ten years ago, and the responj sibility for this rests with a Ministry which has made no serious attempt to grapple with the question. Whether the Bill which is row promised will meet with a better fste than befel the Bill introduced by the lata Mr Seddon, remains to be seen. If, as is reported, it is intended to add to the financial responsibilities of ratepayers the maintenance of sehuol buildings and the administration of the education system, the issues introduced will be wider than the most ardent reformer could have anticipated, and the proposals will be subjected to the closest scrutiny. It is unreasonable to expect that a measure of a comprehensive character will be placed upon the Statut3 Book this session. The probabilities are that the Bill, when circulated, will be read a first time, referred to the Bills Committee, and held over for further consideration until the next session of Parliament. In the meantime local bodies and taxpayets generally will ba afforded the opportunity of critically examining it.