AMALGAMATION PETITIONS

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24237, 20 April 1944, Page 4

AMALGAMATION PETITIONS

THREE AREAS ADJACENT TO CITY COMMISSION APPOINTED A commission to inquire into the petition of Hillsborough residents for the amalgamation of part of the Hillsborough riding of the Heathcote County with the city of Christchurch has been appointed, and the names of the commissioners will be announced almost immediately. Mr J. W. Adams informed “The Press” last evening that he had been given this information by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry). Captain T. H. McCombs, M.P., said he understood that this commission woul(i also inquire into two other amalgamation petitions. One was that seeking the inclusion of the McCormack’s Bay area at Mount Pleasant in the city. Section 136 of the Municipal Corporations Act, which authorised the appointment of commissions to advise the Governor-General on such petitions, provides that a commission shall consist of a stipendiary magistrate, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and a district valuer. The duties of a commission are to inquire into a petition and any objections to it and into the suitability or otherwise of the area concerned for municipal control, and’ to recommend what alterations in boundaries, if any, should be made. A commission’s findings are not necessarily final, although in practice they are generally adopted.