THE NEW WESTLAND COUNTY ACT.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 403, 14 November 1868, Page 4

THE NEW WESTLAND COUNTY ACT.

Tho New "Westland County Act is, no doubt intended as a model act for couuties which are yet expected to be formed throughout New Zealand. In a district like this, its details may be interesting, and we quote from the West Coast Tunes a summary of its provisions. One of them is that all the powers held formerly by the Superintendent of Canterbury are versed in the C hairman of the County Council—so far " as they are applicable to the circumstances of the said County," and all powers which may be legally delegated to a Superintendent of a province, may be delegated to the Chairman of the County Council within and for the County of Westland, " or to any other person or persons the Governor may think fit." These powers the Governor may at any time revoke. It remains wich the Council, to elect its Chairman. But it remains with the Governor to determine whether the Chairman so elected shall possess the delegated powers which alone can constitute him the Chief Executive officer of the County. By the eighth clause of the Act the Council is made a body corporate, with a Common Seal and succession, and so forth. The succeeding clauses down to the fifty-first make no alteration in the present law except so far as the division of the " district " into several separate electorates. At all elections, the voter who tenders a Miner's Eight may have put to him, at the instance of any candidate or his agent, the question, •' Have you resided in this district continuously for two months immediately preceding the clay of nomination of candidates at this election ?" This clause is intended to prevent in some measure the swamping of the town constituencies by miners who have taken out their rights in the town. The eighty-second clause contains the provisions authorising the Council to *' appropriate " by its own vote the revenues of the County—a new power conferred by this Act, and probably its most important feature. The clause reads as follows : —" All the moneys paid to the County Treasurer for the Council under the provisions of this Act or of any Act of the General Assembly shall be at the disposal of the Council for the purpose of maintaining an efficient Police or Constabulary Force and establishing and maintaining all necessary

public gaola and harb our works and constructing main roads bridges ferries and other public works, and for the support of hospitals and the promotion of education within the County and for distribution to the several Corporations of Boroughs and ftoad Boards in such proportions as to the said Council shall seem fit."

The remainder of the Act consists almost wholly of clauses referring to matters of Municipal detail. °No doubt, the new Act is an improvement upon the old one, especially in the control given to the Council over the public purse.