Local Government.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19665, 8 July 1929, Page 8

Local Government.

We print this morning the report of an address by Mr L. C. Webb at Canterbury College outlining a scheme for the reorganisation of local government in New Zealand, the central idea being the abolition of the counties and the establishment of Provincial Councils. Whatever people may think about Mr Webb's suggestions, they will agree with Professor Tocker's remark, as chairman of the meeting, that it is not at present practical politics to abolish the counties, and that in any case there will have to be a thorough investigation before any new scheme can be seriously considered. Apart from all other considerations, the average local body member will fight to the last bridge and the last yard of good or bad road to maintain his present privileges and his local prestige. This, however, should not prevent thoughtful people from turning their attention to our present system of local government and the reforms that are possible, since no one can deny that it is full of anachronisms and wasteful duplications. Every Prime Minister since Mr Seddon has promised to overhaul local government, and not one of them —for the simple reason indicated by Professor Tocker—has made any attempt to carry out his promises. In 1912, it is true, the country was treated by the Mackenzie Government to the slightly mellow farce of a conference of local body representatives in Wellington who refused to be impressed with the need for changes. It will, of course, require an Administration with a firmer basis of popular support than the Mackenzie Government had to tackle the problem, and one more secure than we have in office now, but reform must come, here as in other countries, and, as Mr Webb points out, the survival of provincial patriotism in New Zealand has at least made the task a little simpler.