THE CITY'S POWERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 171, 21 July 1924, Page 4

THE CITY'S POWERS.

If there is "a nervous sensitiveness which predisposes those afflicted to see evil in almost everything the City Council or the Harbour Board proposes to do" (vide to-day's "Herald"), possibly the recent conduct of the Council and the Board has helped to produce this regrettable frame of mind. Just look at the history of the waterfront "railway—the secrecy, the refusal to discuss the question with parties interested, theCouncil'a change of front, and, finaily, the u«e of an existing Act to get done what Parliament refused to sanction. If the Marine Boroughs' Association is critical of the new Bill promoted by the j City Council, is it surprising after the scant courtesy it has received from both the Council and the Board? The "Herald" hints that the Association may be told to mind its own business. That would not be the first rebuff of the kind, but the Association would retort that it proposed to go on minding its own business, so long as that business was public and effected persons under its jurisdiction. Two points have been made against this new Bill. One is that it proposes to give the City Council power <o exchange property with another local body without going through formalities now necessary. We. have already questioned the wisdom of this proposal. The other is the proposal to give the Council authority to sell or lease without sub- : mission to public auction or public tender lands acquired in the course of transactions for public works purposes. It is said that just the same authority was given in connection with the Anzac Avenue improvement scheme. So it was, but in that empowering Act the particular improvement scheme for which special authority was asked was mentioned. In the present Bill there is no such restriction. The authority asked for is general, and if it is given the City Council will be in a position to sell or lease land that it has acquired, without going to Parliament for permission. If this authority is given to Auckland, other boroughs will demand to be put on the same footing, and we doubt whether Parliament will be prepared to create such a precedent. Nor are we sure that on the merits of the case Parliament will pass a clause that opens the door to questionable practices. There is no need for a local body to have such sweeping powers. If it wishes for special authority for a special purpose it has access to Parliament, and if it has a good case Parliament will grant its request.