Untitled

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1938, Page 6

AN assurance by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon W. E. Parry) that there is no need to worry about the fate of the Local Government (Amalgamation Schemes) Bill might be interpreted in dift'erent ways. While, however, Mr Parry’s assurance that he intends to press forward in what admittedly is an uphill task may be welcomed, the immediate prospects of his Bill cannot be called good. Apparently no attempt wall be made to put the measure through this session, since it .was not mentioned specifically by the Prime Minister in his recent foreeast of intended legislation.

The need for the far-reaching reform of local government in this country is beyond question, and, indeed, is admitted very generally. Mr Parry stated in the House yesterday that in the course of his extended tour of the Dominion he did not find one loeal body which did not believe in the need for reform. It is over the nature and methods of reform that disagreement' arises, but nevertheless disagreement and the delays it occasions threaten to stretch out interminably. Much as it is to be regretted, this of course is not a new situation. Successive New Zealand Governments have attempted in vain, to promote the reform of local government and in the outcome our system of local government has been enfeebled in a degree which makes it compare to poor advantage with the corresponding systems of a number of other countries notably Great Britain.