The Press WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1936. “This Network of Local Bodies”

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21717, 26 February 1936, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1936. “This Network of Local Bodies”

Mr Parry's cry from the heart —“ I can get no- “ where in particular so long as I am hemmed “in with this network of local bodies’’—will arouse sympathy. His easy promise that be- “ fore long ” the Department of Internal Affairs will “ take a forward step in bringing about “ the co-ordination of local bodies in this “ country ” will be received with polite scepticism. In the last five years many have promised local- govci’nment reform and always their schemes have been brought to a halt by the stubborn barriers of parochialism. Moreover, it should be noted that, despite his vigorous denunciation of the evils of the piesent system, Mr Parry made no promise to reduce the number of local authorities. Ho merely gave an assurance that he would not sanction the creation of additional authorities and that his department would make an effort to secure better co-ordination of local body work. But co-ordination can do very little to remedy the waste and inefficiency of local government in New Zealand, since the fundamental defect of the system is the smallness of local body districts. The counties, for instance, were created before the era of motor transport and are now much too small to be efficient as loading authorities. To some extent this weakness has been remedied by superimposing on the counties an elaborate system of highways boards; but the limits of this method of coordination have been reached. There can be no further advance towards the creation of an efficient roading system until the Government finds the courage to establish reasonably* large county areas, which will involve reducing the number of counties by at least a half. Nor must it be forgotten that, particularly in rui areas, no real co-ordination of local body work is possible without an enlargement of local body districts. The scores of rabbit boaids, river boards, and drainage boards that have been created in the last 50 years or so would be unnecessary if counties were larger. It would also be possible, given larger county areas, to abolish hospital boards and vest their functions in statutory committees of county councils. Similarly, it would not be difficult to redraw borough boundaries so as to make unnecessary the many ad hoc authorities which now exist in borough areas. In Christchurch all the functions of local government could be carried out much more efficiently and cheaply by the City Council alone than by the multiplicity of authorities now in existence. The trouble is that New Zealand’s 700 local authorities have become a vested interest which no government has yet had the courage to attack. The members and the employees of every small local authority are enemies of local government reform; and, since almost all the members of the House of Representatives have graduated to national politics from local politics, the House has a permanent majority in favour of maintaining the status quo in local administration. There is only one reason to suppose that Mr Parry will be any more successful than his predecessors in attempting to bring order out of chaos in local government. It is that he and his colleagues are committed to extensive schemes of social reform. They will very soon discover that in education, public health, roading, agricultural relief, and a dozen other matters little progress can be made a system of local government has been created which bears some relation to modern requirements.