Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1895. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5127, 11 September 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1895. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BILL.

Mil. Wahu has told the people down South, that the Local Government Bill is not to he pressed this session and on this point there can be little doubt, as the House is exhausted and almost demoralised by its recent banking legislation, The Bill, if it be passed next session, will become law on tho eve of a general olection, and with a check ot this kind ahead, it may be considered a certainty that the moasuro will bo so altered by Mr Scddon's followers, that its own reputed parent will not know it. We wish to do Mr Seddon the justice to admit that he has apparently gone to work in earnest to replace a somewhat cumbrous system of local government by ono that would bo comparatively simple and inexpensive, but lie has not counted the cost of the change, and he has not hesitated to mislead people as to its financial bearings, not only by sneaking a slice of the present local revenue for the consolidated fund, but also by misrepresenting facts, . which almost anyone can verify. In tho preface to the measure Jlr Seddon slates that in some instances the management expenses of local bodies amount to 60 per cent of their total L'ovDiiue—that is to say, it costs £6O to collect £IOO. Now the Sydenham Town Clerk' has taken the trouble to calculate what the actual cost of mauagemeiitcomes toamongst various local bodjes. He finds that in the case of counties it is 1H per cent, boroughs 7'5 per cent, and road boards 10 per cent. About 9 per cent scorns to bo tho, trap average, and when Mr Seddon throws out hints about 60 per cent bo must be thinking of his own co-operative jobs. We have some reason to believe that on the Pongoroa works the cost q of management is 60 per cent on the value of the work done and that if ' Mr Seddon succeeded in carrying his measuro on the lines upon which he * has planned it, the present cost of a executing local government works :b would be doubled while tho income S of the local bodies themselves would be pared down by the friendly hand , e of the Premier.' , t It is curious also to notice that Jibe i Sydenham Town Clerk estimates that the number of Local Bodies to be abolished under the proposed i 8 measure would bo less than one half it of those which are now in existence, I whereas the Premier asserts that l 7 threo.fourths will bo swept away, It is a pity that peoplo have to look jb to the Clerks of Local Bodies for the i- plain facts of Mr Seddon's now measure,and that the Premier should not have hesitated to place in black and white, statements wnioh almost any intelligent Olwk in the country

districts can disprove. ■ However, we are thankful that there will be abundant time to correct the obvious mistakes embodied in the Bill before it can possibly become law.

The Hospital Trustees have is A displayed, in the past, some mm alacrity in accepting bone- , stick, fits at the hands of the ladies of the district, and have allowed them to work up funds during three successive years for the institution,'but now when the ladies claim a right to say bow these funds which, they have raised should be expended, they are in a cleft stick. Two years ago wo warned the Trustees to depend upon subscriptions rather than on Hospital balls for ways and means, but they would not take good advice, and now they are morally bound to admit the claim which the ladies' deputation has made upon them. The ladies have a perfect right to say how their money should bo' expended, and if the Trustees desire to take this hard earned money and do what they like with it, they will very properly find themselves at tho mercy of "the new woman,"