LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 859, 30 August 1881, Page 2

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT.

. (To thfl-Bdilpr \ViimApi DAto.) ' Sir',—l regret that I have so long kept, silenoe during the disoussiqn that lias been going on with regard' to local selfgovernment in the' matter of Counties Boards, It js a question that has loqg agq' arrayed itself in colony of South Ausjralia-the first (jf the jjrgup c)t oploijies tii'at established bo(|)0S Qf tl)}8 kind, and to the wprking of whose laws 01) this suhjeot most qf'the other oolohies are more or less indebted. Sinoe I have been here I have, been muoh misled by the state of things I have found existing here in these muttersri came to the conclusion that in copying the system in force in the older colonies they had in some way missed the common ?ense fpquMqt} uitfey 4_ P tg worked, - 111 tl)e caloqy of SqutJv ifa# tvslia they llave what t}i{> 'palled DisfeiitGonuoUs, whioli were esiablishei (luring Sir Henry Young's governorship, They usually iiicluuSd sliOUt lOQ'iquare KllSs of settled country, and were, and 'are nowj treated in the same way as Highway Boards" here, 1 'on petition of pile inhabitants VeaiamEt in jhe dlsWot, Tlioir busii ness lies'entirely'in providing distrust roads for the aoeommodati6n of their district. At: the same' time there • was established a Central Eoad Board, whose te If VM to We and maintain main, riMs only, and lhai'ri coilld' Mplaced on 'the schedule of raain l'baqii by the Parliament alone. These, as'wqll 5s the disfrjcf men ed by vqte qf'Parliament, In the coijrse of tiiqi it wag Boon foijntl that th? progress qf settlement and tliq distanoe from the capital prevented the Central Road Board from being able to attend to the requirements of th* outside districts, and I obtained for the district of Fhnders, of which I was ft uwiphpr, two Boards of Mn Eoads, and that 14 to tfe ofsqYe'pl'B.oavVqfMam lioads cqrresppnding tq youi; countioshero, and eacl} moludiqg all Hnndndi or Distrjpt Oounojlf? interested ,jn, the main roads of its own particular portion of too country. Under this system of working you wiil perceive that the Distnct Councils only attend to district roads, and can spend moqoy qq no other roads, and correspond to the position the Sigh' Main Row} Boards also can only spenii money m qaking and maintaining tliq' maiq rqai|si bridges, and ferries oh tlie soheqnle oftl)eir Aots for the thne ! being, keeping open .the main arteries of the country that affect several District Councils. or Highway Boards. I maintain tnac is the position counties ought to occupy. In process of time, with the expansion of settlement and the monetary guestion assuming an all-important aspect, as in this colony, it became fa) prevent the useless crowding onqajn on tlje soljeijujq jiy period}' as we^fbund't tio?«alTy entitled to on W? main roads replaced by railways as far as possible became dis-

tact ™to- And; to prevent log-tolliiie no pnvate member couldmove fora fresh roadbeingplaced on the schedule. Only the Government can do so, necessitating a. regujar course of aotion. pqtibon pf 80 v«:al councils tants, report of Surveyor-qbrietei/palßiiig in Oabine and coming before the Assembly in the usual way, no government «■ ?■• a ™ lmii tt S e " ei ' al de ™and of this kind, These two systems have been gradually adopted, and with these oheoks have worked satisfactorily to the country. Ihey have also annual meetings of the Main Road Boards, at which the apport!qnmentqftl, 9 fund, yoWbyP S ia< ment are discussed and settled, The ojajrmen of tie rAaV attend and bring forward matters affect-' fog their districts, but, I think, not vote unless often are) eleoted on both Hoards. It appears to me your Acts have gone astray in that they do not suffi: oienfly define main roads the real artai of the country, with whioh alone the counfoes otjghtjo deal and fromwhioh the Highway Boards ought to be relieved. I confess in writing tin's I have nonAl the South Australian Ante by me, and am very lmperfeofly a. couainted witli the N«W Zealand. Abts, I W only served a twelve-month on a District Counoilßoard, auo..consequently - Eye bad far more to Jo tali the m^ingof s th:e Aotsthan their «me of the first establisbaentloi. those Boards, the district whipjiliwsentefl wag then oooupjed nya,'Bfl[ua|ting population, excepting 1 M ports wdVcoun'trj towrishjps, 'an'd' tjje Koaajpftrdswew employed by the Qq, yernment k making- main road,s that opened,up the Crown Wds of the country; none of whioh: were then sold, or subject - to any.ratej.whatever, being held under pastoral leases from the Crown/ and con-'

aequently iir a different position to any other main road'boards, ■-. k ' 5 Kthesp fcwremarks are of any dgiTjoe m Ujo (jonsideratjon of this object, and Una in any way to simplify the 'satisfafcwry solution of the.matter, it 1 will afforj great pleaaurq tp \' , Tours, &0., . • 5 . John .

. . Tjraumea.