THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1912. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10635, 14 May 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1912. LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

The emphatic manner in which the proposed Local Government Bill has been condemned at ithe preliminary conferences held in various parts of i'lie Domain ion is evidence that the diocumeait will receive short shrift when the combined conference, meets in Wellington.- Wlhiile on tllie broad lines of public policy rtlhe necesisity for reform in the present cumbrous and expensive system lot local government may ihe admitted, it will be difficult to find a pretext for the clumsily-con-trived measure wlikih Unas been circulated in tihe name of irteform. The country had been asking for the widening iui (the powers of County councils, and fou' tthe removal of the anomalies which had grown up around the system of municipal government. It-had made no reqaiest,' liowever, for a re.turn' to itjhe Provincialism of forty years iaigo. iWiliat demand has there 1 'been ffor the abolition of the hospital' and charitable aid system, which liasjust been got into working ordeir, or iof' the education system!, - which 'has stood tihe test t'f years ? It is a poor recognition of the .servic-es reaidered | hy School Committees that they isihould mow he deprived of a voice in /blie selection o¥ their representatives, Hind shorn? of practically the only real Irespo'nsi'bility which is vested in them. •Why is it sought to mix up local (body, and educational, avnd Charitable •aid andt hospital, and' river board work in .this extraordinary (fashionP fflhei primlairy object is (to relievo the Consolidated 'Revenue tdf charges at present madle upon 'it in the matter toif education, leftc., and to cast (these ■upon- the ratepayers flf the c'ountryi. (A more .mionistrous propceal lias aifot iheeiv .made in th.e Ihisto'ry of .m»deni (legislation. When the real significance of 'measure is brought giome to the country, the butcry ■against 'it wffll- ihe so pronounced that its fate will be 'for ever sealed. The Hon. T. Mackenzie 'wililj, of course', (repudiate tilie Bill, as isdm ais lie discovers 'the manner of its reception. But altHiougjli the Ward Administration- iwas mip'on'Sible for its incuki-

•tion, Mr Mackenzie lias o'bviously embraced it as part of hie own pcilic-y, ■and must accept ins share of the responsibility for the wretched bungle. Had lie 'been wise in his generation;, he would have studiously avoided the .manifesto so dramatic/ally presented ■to the country by Sir Joseph Ward.