The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 817, 12 July 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1881.

A CORRESPONDENT of a Wellington paper has suggested the following plan for local self-government. There is nothing new in his ideas, but they have the merit of' being put in a plain and intelligible form, and are, as a whole, characterised by common sense. 1. Counties and Road Boards should

still exist i Counties, -generally speaking, should be large, or as large 1 as the Southland County.:. 3. Ridings of Counties and Road Board districts' boundaries should be. conterminous. 4. County Councillors v sl;ould • consist of thechuirmeii of the Koiid Boards-in the county. 5, County Councils should make the annual valuations. 9. Road Boards to be furnished with the total sum-of-the valuators, and, having previously' estimated their requirements,'request County Council to striked rate of any sum up to Is in the £. 7.- County Council to strike rate so instructed without option, and to strike, rate for County purposes at same time. , County to collect, rates, and.tp pay. Read Board ntg to Credit of Board in bank, 8. Road Board to" spend rates and subsidy exclusively on road improvements, and engineer's salary or commission. 9. County .Councils to spend their revenue on main" roads,.' bridges, valuations, col-lection-of .revenue, &a, &ci," as -is- by law (Mned now," One mistake, which the writer, in our opinion, has fallen into —and many others with him—is in proposing that the Chairmen of Highway Boards should constitute the County Council, As long as each Highway Board has a representative' at. the County board, what' does-T-at" Tna'tter whether he be its Chairman .'or no 1 A man may be a good chairman,-...0f a Highway Board aiid a poor Councillor j or, tilling the dual office, lie. .may havg time- to devote to one Ijody and no leisure to do justtce to. the other. Take the .Wairarapa Wesfc-'Oouncil for example; in it the three members,who have given the largest'amount of time to carrying oil' its work are undoubtedly Councillors Moore, Pjiahazyn, and McGregor. ' 2Tot one of these gentleinen is a chairman of a i HighwayBoard, or evwn a member of one, No | nane man in tliis district would deem it an advantage to disqualify them from sitting at the Council merely because they do not preside over Highway] (Boards. .It is very easy to proposephanges that look well in theory,' and very difiieult to. suggest alterations which work well in practice. For this reason it is better that time should be given for the gradual development of oui' local self-government systems. It is far better that they should remain for it while in their present shape than that the work they now carry on should be thrown out of gear by experimental innovations. As soon as a general consensus of opinion points to specific improvement in the relations of 'our various local bodies it will be time to give practical cfiect to it. Settlers in local districts themselves possess considerable powers under the Counties and Highways Acts for the amalgamation and separation of districts. So far, they have, not attempted, however, to exercise them, excepting in a few rave instances. If they would rouse up to a sense of the power to help themselves that is absolutely in their own hands the settlement on a permanent basis of local self-government questions would lie effected with sufficient rapidity. Such an opportunity is now presented in this district by the Conference which takes place on the 23rd instant, respecting the amalgamation of Counties East and West, The representatives of both Counties do not appear to exhibit any great interest in the proposed discussion, or to be sensible that it, is one on which the future of the Wairarapa as a whole in a great measure depends, Mr Vhaiuzyx said' at a recent meeting of the County East Council that the feeling of their constituents was adverse to such a change. This, for a public man of Mr Phakazyx's calibre, was a very low ground on which to determine such a proposition. We trust when the conference does come off to hear not what the feeling of settlers is. but what their future interestsand welfaredemand, We require reason rather than sentiment