THE TOWN-PLANNING BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 194, 16 August 1911, Page 4

THE TOWN-PLANNING BILL.

It is certainly a great pity that tag Town-Planning Bill has been dropped; hut under the circumstances, wc do not quite sec what else Government could do with it. The original clause over which trouble arose set forth that all town-planning schemes must be submitted to the G-overnor-in-Council for his approval. When the bill got to the committee stage, the House substituted an amendment which gave the Town-Plan-ning Board itself the power to accept or rejret any piveu scheme. Now, as Mr Kowlds has pointed out, the effect of this alteration would .be to set up as supreme authority in such matters an absolutely irresponsible bureaucracy, over whieh Ministers would have no direct contro'. It seems to us that the plea sc strongly urged in favour of the amendment that municipal authority ought not to be centralised, and that the right of local selfgovernment should be carefully preserved, entirely fails to justify this change. We may go further and claim in tho interest of local autonomy that it is far wiser to leave the right of final decision in such ce.6cs with the Goveraor-in-C'oitncil than to delegate such wide and undefined powers to an official board

uncontrolled hy Ministers. Such a -course certainly appears, practically, to involve, as Mr Fowlds asserts, an infringement of the theory of constitutional jrovernment, and in any case the Minister in charge could hardly lie expeted to adopt this sweeping proposal at a moment's notice. Fossibly a little reflection may induce the majority of members to realise that in abolishing the Governor-in-Counoil in this instance, they were, in reality, striking a blow .at one of the most •fundamental principles of democratic Liberalism, the responsibility oi the administration to the people. We can only regret that a measure with so mwh to recommend it otherwise has been temporarily hung up in this way, and we hope that it will not be delayed for long. In the meantime, Mr Myers' proposal for the appointment of a townplanning expert to assist in arranging a definite public policy on the lines indicated in the bill should facilitate tht progress of this great movement, anil prevent Parliament from losing sight of its truly national importance.