CENTRALISATION V. LOCAL CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 135, 9 June 1910, Page 4

CENTRALISATION V. LOCAL CONTROL.

A question of great public importance has been raised in regard to the amount of control that the Harbour Board may exercise over passenger traffic within the harbour limits. In reply to the deputation from the Shipowners' Federation, which -waited on Mr. Millar two days ago, the Minister stated that he would not accept the by-laws submitted to him by the Harbour Board in regard to the licensing of ferry boats. It i≤ confended by the Harbour Board, which has obtained an opinion from its legal advisers on the point, that the responsibility for issuing these licenses and laying down the conditions on which they should be granted rests with the Harbour Board; while Mr. Millar, apparently on the advice of the law officers of the Crown, holds that this power is vested in the- Marine Department, As Mr. Kntrican points out in the interview which appears elsewhere in this issue, the by-laws which Mr. Miliar rejects have been in force for 20 years, and there seems 'to be no new ground for disallowing them. Aβ, we are to have direct legislation on the constitution of Harbour Boards this session through Mr. Millar's long-promised Harbour Board Amendment Bill, it seems to us highly advisable to emphasise 'the attitude taken, up by our own Harbour Board on this question. For many years past, as we have said, the Harbouv Board has controlled the ferry traffic, and has insisted that the ferry services shall bo conducted with due regard to the convenience and safety of the general public. It seems 'to us natural to assume tha.t such duties can be more effectively discharged toy a local authority than by a. "Department located hundreds of miles away; and wo brlievo that no central authority could look, after local needs so carefully nnd effectually as a properly constituted local body. The principle of local self-government is thoroughly sound ana democratic, and, i-n our opinion, nothing but the grossest neglect of obvious duties on the part of the Harbour Board would justify Government in transferring such authority as this from local to central control. Our Harbour Beard has certainly done a great deal for the general publiu by insisting upon proper provision being mado on ferry boats for their comfort and convenience, and by refusing to rssue licenses for boa,ts that appear to lie unfitted for that sort of traffic. Unrlor the circumstances, wo may well doubt if the Marine Department could •watch over our interests so well all the •way from Wellington; and, considering the* strong prejudice which a democratic public naturally and rightly entertains against the surrender of its powers of local self-government to a centralised ofiicialdom, we hope that our Parliamentary representatives will do their best to sco that local interests are properly provided for, and the claims of local autonomy are maintained when Mr. Millar's bill comes up for discussion.