The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1890.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2794, 10 June 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1890.

Equal anil oxact justtce to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Sm Rouuivr Stout is sure to be heard of again in the political world. He has a large following and although sitting in his tent, sorely wounded just now, cannot help coming out at intervals to give utterance to his views on tilings past, present and future. The last occasion was in Invercargill at the end of May. He delivered a lecture which was largely attended, but imperfectly reported by the Invercargill papers. The Dunedin Daily Times has therefore interviewed Sir Robert and have given his opinions at considerable length. As to the necessity of improvement in the present system of local government almost every one in the colony-*—ex-cept Sir Harry Atkinson—is agreed. The governing bodies must be made more independent, more capable of self-reliance, and better fitted to meet the responsibilities thrown upon I,hem. More must be done upon the spot, and less in Wellington. Decentralisation is felt to be the political problem of the time. Upon its satisfactory solution, a sufficient reduction in the cost of government, greater efficiency in administration, the restoration of public confidence, and the return of solid prosperity largely depend. In what way can this decentralisation be best attained ? Sir Robert

Stout is an old Provincialist, <md looks upon the abolition of the provincial form of Local SelfGovernment as an irremediable blunder. It should, he holds, have been reformed and improved. This •would have been easy in comparison with the task of constructing an entirely new system under the varying local conditions produced by the expenditure of wasted millions during the last 18 or 20 years. Inequalities have been created which must be taken into account iu the formation of a now system, and justice be done to . those districts that have been neglected during the outpouring of the loan money. Sir Eobert says that he had hoped, when Charitable Aid districts were being formed, that "the colony might have been divided into such areas as would

have allowed the re-establishment of some strong form of local government." Upon what basis this idea could have reasonably rested we fail to see. The Charitable Aid Boards are representative ol local ratepayers, and their object is more perhaps to keep down charges upon the rates than to indulge in the luxury of charity. Governments, local or otherwise, if they are to be entrusted with power, and to command public confidence must represent men of all classes, and not any particular section. No wonder, then, that Sir Eobert found himself at fault, and that he should have to complain of a tendency to split up the Charitable Aid districts, unficting them as areas for complete local self-government. What he now proposes is to create 18 or 19 local governing districts in the colony. Each is to have its District Council, and these Councils are to manage Education, Hospitals, Charitable Institutions, Police, Industrial

Schools, Police Gaols, and all other things save those that affect equally all parts of the colony. Thus, the District Councils would have nothing to do with Post-office or Customhouse, Supreme Oourtor Bankruptcy, Lighthouses, Lands, Natives, and similar matters. Roads and' bridges and all public works—saving perhaps railways—would come within their range. On these points and many others, Sir Eobert Stout is fully reported by the interviewer, but it is needless to enter upon them here. If pursued, we shall have other opportunities of giving them the consideration that the subject claims. In order to pursue thein they must be properly formulated, and taken up either in the Assembly, or by some association organised to promote the decentralisation that all desire, but about the scope and method of which such wide differences exist. They are the points to be settled, and can only be so after deliberate, open, and well-thought-out discussion for the formation ot an intelligent public opinion. As to any chance of full preliminary consideration by the Assembly, we have very grave doubt. The initiative on so large a measure could only be taken by a Ministry holding something like unity of views as to the principles on which local self-government should be based. The two cardinal differences in principle are whether the bodies to be created shall be merely entrusted with roads and other works of a material kind, or with the social as well as material welfare of the people. In the one case power may be vested in the ratepayers alone, as at present. In the other case power must be vested in the electors as a whole. Any one will see at a glance how important these differences ate. If the Assembly is to be relieved of duties outside of those connected with roads and bridges, those duties can only be transferred to bodies representing the people of each local governing district as fullj as they are now representee in the Assembly. The first es sential is to have a Ministrj in unison on the cardinal point which lies at the foundation, anc , must affect the character of the whole structure. Arrangement o:

details and the finance in connection with them, are only matters of judgment, but ready access to the sources of information which a minister only can command, are essential to their proper settlement, The correctness of this view is proved by the failure of Sir Robert Stout to do anything during his three yeats 1 Premiership, and the loss of prestige which has for a time followed that failure. It could not be otherwise when he allied himself with Sir Julius Vogel whose ideas of Government in general and of local Government in particular, differed so essentially from his own. The Cabinet, thus divided, had to shelve the subject or break to pieces. Tlicy preferred to shelve it and did nothing. With this experience before us, there scorns little ground to hope for a satisfactory solution of the problem unless the people be first thoroughly aroused, and a strong publie opinion formed on well understood principles and with a definite purpose in view. We suggest to Sir Robert Stout of whose earnestness wo are eonvineod and whoso ability nono doubt, that this is tho direction his work should take. Let. liim rally his numerous supporters throughout the colony, and create associations for effecting decentralisation by the establishment of a sound, healthy, and self-reliant system of local self-government. Its form and scope would then be settled with the approval of the majority of the people. Without such previous approval we have little hope of anything being done on a subject involving not only tho difficult question of decentralisation, but the necessary reconstruction of the general Legislature, whose functions would be circumscribed and its work decreased. A further reduction in the number in both branches, with an entire reorganisation of the Upper House, would naturally follow. The latter must then be elected, and for only definite periods, by the local governing bodies, of whose iuterests aiui oou-

stitution the guardianship would become one of its chief cares.