The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 711, 6 January 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, reHgious or political # # # « # Here shall the PresT rthe PespltE's right maintain, Unawed by influence and nnbribed by Rain.

SATURDAY. JANUARYS, 1877.

A Correspondent m another column refers to the question of the probable expense of working the «county system m full and deprecates •the idea of dts 'being- made?a bugbear' of to 'frighten the ratepayers. That of course is very much as it may be. Ifc might be quite possible for a 'county council, by giving a fall salary to chairman and clerk, and by filling ug every appointment it is capable of making with salaried ; officers, to swallow up a very large ■proportion, ef the public money, but, at tlie same time, it is by no means necessary that it should enter on any such expense. In > some teases, doubtless, .chairmen wiU be found to work witout salaries at all, and, even, where paid, a very moder- ' ate sum only should be set apart for 'them. Then, as regards the number of officials required, we find, by -the Act, that a council may, from time (to time, appoint and employ a treasurer, clerk, surveyor, valuers, •collectors, and all such other officers as they -shall think proper or necessary, and pay such officers re *spectivelysuch salaries and allowance as they shall think reasonable, but further on we. find that one .person may hold two or more of any of the offices aboyementioned, -while any member of council may • act m such "offlClH.l OapHOUj , iJiuyidud ku Uu AU •without salary. If there is an open door to extravagance, there is, at least, every opportunity afforded for ■the economical working of >the Act.

And, really, a considerable amount 6f the work to be done, will have been executed by the road boards, ready to •< the i hand of the -councils. The valuers work will have been so done, and there can be no objection, that we can see, to the adoption of the road board valuations by the ♦councils, while, for the collection of the county rates, if any, the .machinery of the road boards is equally .available. The office 6f •treasurer is one very commonly rjislcl. as an 'honorary one, 'bringing with it, as it does, little or no labour, Thus, the whole of the work weaXtf requiring to be paid for, seems to us •to be tha-t performed by the clerki Here, again, a great deal will depend •upon what office hours are made t<? -consist of, and it rests with the •council to fix these. s -

The question, however, whichmany to advocate the .partial ; adoption only of the .Act, is not so> ■much the 'fear of being led into unneoessaiy expenses m county salaries as the unwillingness to hand over to a county council, .for expenditare, '£he. share of the Colonial Government subsidies which would otherwise fee distributed .for disposal by the several road boards. -But, -Irere^fte-we Have before said, the matter will have -fc o be duly conr sidered— whether, is it better to entrust men chosen from themselves, and immediately responsible to the' ratepayers, to undertake and control all the larger works of the district, or to leave .this work to the General Government.? In any case, the work will have to be done, and 'be a; charge against the counties half of <the iGoveimment subsidies; ©ur •correspondent 'thinks and -all -experience leads to the same 'conclusion, -that the work will be done far more cheaply, and just as satisfactorily by the local i-epresen-taatives It becomes a question then — since, where the Act is not worked m full, only the unexpended balance of the subsidies after the Colonial Government has done what otherwise the counties would do willioo handed over for distribution among the road-boards — whether it would be more beneficial to the road districts, it© receive] this balance direct, or for the counties to receive the full subsidies, do the work which otherwise the colonial Government would do, and expend the m making and maintaining main roads, and otherwise lightening the rest of road board expenditure. We have pat the matter as we have heard it discussed for some time past, from a purely selfish and pounds shillings and pence point of view, apart altogether

from any duty citizens that may devolve upon us of doing our share m working oat the developement of the constitutional . form of local government under which we must live. Of course if every county waited to see how the Act worked m every other County, there would be little chance of . the measure getting a fair trial, and of its faults and imperfections being put to the crucial test of ©rdeai by administration j and of getting the measure licked into working order by amendments m successive sessions. That it is far from perfect, so imperfect, ia fact, as to have fairly provoked much of the distrust with which it has been received, we have before pointed out, but, at the same time, it was not m the nature of things to look for a ready made constitution that would fit every one of the seven and fifty counties of the colony, or that would not require some amendment here, some alteration there, before, indeed, it would fit any one of them. So much as this was 'evidently not expected by the frambrs of the Act even, or they would not have given such large dis. cretionary powers to the Governor, that is, -to the G-overninent, as are contained mV the 20.9 th section of the Counties Act, whereby any defect or flaw may be amended without even the delay of waiting for an Amendment Act from the next Session* of the Assembly. .