LOCAL BODY GOVERNMENT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24712, 1 November 1945, Page 6

LOCAL BODY GOVERNMENT

FUNCTIONS AND AREAS Recommendations Of Committee PROPOSED SURVEY BY COMMISSION The establishment, by legislation this session, of a permanent Local Government Commission of three members, the chairman to have the status of. a judge of the Supreme Conrt, was the major and argent recommendation of the Local Government Committee in its report presented to Parliament "• yesterday. One member was to be appointed by the Government because of knowledge of local government, the third member being appointed from a list of nominees -submitted by the various national associations of local bodies. Five-year appointments were suggested. "This commission should have the responsibility of carrying out a survey of the problems of area and functions of all local authorities in the Dominion and of drawing up schemes for reorganisation," . recommended ' the committee. "The commission should not merely deal with amalgamation of like bodies, but also with the absorption of internal bodies, such as rabbit, drainage, and fire boards, by the territorial local authority, and, generally, with the area and functions of local bodies in the Dominion. The problems of Auckland, Christchurch, and of hospital boards should be among the first to be dealt with by the commission. The committee said there was no virtue in the multiplicity of governing authorities in Auckland and Christchurch. The only suburban borough which had not amalgamated with the City of Christchurch was Riccarton, and there were a number of county areas, wholly or in part, within the Christchurch metropolitan area. A tramways board and a drainage board had been necessary. • The problem of the distribution of electric power was at present very .much to the fore, "and the rather ludicrous situation of a small area moving for the setting-up of a separate power board has been witnessed." The area could be quite adequately served by the Christchurch City Council. . Argument for Retention In both Christchurch and Auckland the main argument for the retention of the multiplicity of local authorities was that they worked efficiently in the. past and that, therefore, they should be satisfactory for the future. The result of that argument was, of course, that no change should be made, irrespective of the fact that change might be for the betterment of the community as a whole. , The committee recommended that the Local Government Commission should be responsible to Parliament its reports to lie on the table for 30 days and, if not objected to, to become law. If objected to by a local body through its member of Parliament, the specific questions should be submitted to a committee of the House, which •would have the right, if necessary, to amend this report in any particular. Once the report was adopted by the House it should become law. . It was not considered.that statutory action would be . necessary in every case of reorganisation if adequate powers were given to the commission. The committee did not consider that a poll of ratepayers should be required subsequent to the findings of the commission. In the districts of many territorial local authorities.the area did not correspond with the community of interest, the report said. As a consequence, in some districts, as in Auckland, and Christchurch, there were several territorial local authorities administering an area which could be' administered by a single responsible body. In some cases urbanised areas of counties adjacent to boroughs should be included in the borough, and smaller counties could, with advan- . tage, be amalgamated among themselves or absorbed by larger counties. Too Many Boards i to ° many hospital boards In. New Zealand at present. We recommend that steps be taken at a very \, early date to reduce considerably the _ number of boards; in particular, we recommend that the six hospital boards operating in North Auckland should be_ amalgamated immediately. Some electric power districts were too-small to operate as efficient units and should be amalgamated with larger boards. Evidence showed that the Banks Peninsula and Malvern Boards were quite incapable of carrying on at present. Electric power distribution by. small boroughs could be - more effectively administered by those urban areas being included in a larger power board. While, there might be a case for the retention of large drainage and river boards, the territories of which extended beyond, the territory of one county, the committee thought in general, that land drainage and river protection should be made the responsibility of the county councils. The implementing of this decision ' should be left to the proposed Local Government Commission. The same view was expressed on the problem of rabbit destruction. . The pressing need was far a thorough overhaul of the whole position of the harbour facilities of the Dominion, particularly as to the smaller ports Some evidence was that there should be some readjustment of the boundaries of harbour districts. 'Although the destruction of noxious weeds is at .present the responsibility Of the county councils, many of these £?<?. Ie s do. not accept their responsiBi ht: k !£ poi t ed the committee. "Steps should therefore be taken' to compel county councils where noxious weeds a\heT G d^u^°. C . eed effectively PROFITS FROM ELECTRICITY USE FOR RATE RELIEF OPPOSED RURAL SUBSIDY SCHEME SUGGESTED "Territorial local authorities should lot be permitted to use profits from elecncity undertakings in relief of rates," recommended the Local Government Committee in. its report dealing with electricity charges. "Any profit from such undertakings belongs to the consumers, ana should be used for the reduction of charges or better services." ; While the committee admitted that it was not possible to charge one price to all types cf consumers, it thought that ultimately one schedule of charges should, operate throughout the whole country. The guarantee system, whereby rural consumers had to guarantee at least 15 per cent, of the cost of reticulation was unfair to those rural consumers TTie committee recommended the implementation of the suggestion for a rural reticulation subsidy scheme, the basis being that all electric-supplv authorities and the Hydro-Electric Department avouM pay a small percentage of their revenue into a central fund for use in subsidisine lines of low-consumer density. Many municipal gas undertakings were working at considerable loss, and the committee thought that electricpower boards should be encouraged to take them over and operate them in conjunction with electricity supply The implementing of this provision should be left to the proposed Local Government Commission, which should also investigate 'he committee's report that from a broad national point of view the distribution of electricity should be the responsibility of electric power boards. "There is no justification, technically or administratively, for the continuance of the licence at present held by many of the smaller territorial local authorities for.the distribution of electricity." said the report The basis of the rural subsid" scheme, which had been provisionally

UNIFORM RATING SYSTEM "NOT POSSIBLE AT PRESENT»» SPECIAL AREAS IN COUNTIES The continuance of the optional system of rating, either on unimproved value or on capital or annual value, was favoured by the Local Government Committee in its report presented to Parliament yesterday Th<* committee did not recommend any statutory enforcement of rating, but it recommended that the period between polls for changing the system should be six years. . "There can be no question that the incidence of rating as far as the individual taxpayer is concerned is entirely different in the case of unimproved value rating from that under the capital and annual value systems," reported the committee. "Within broad limits it can be said that the incidence of rating on capital and annual value rating is identical, since there is a statutory relation between the annual value and the capital value."

There is no doubt that if.it were possible to begin afresh it would be wise to have a uniform system for the whole of New Zealand. We do not think this is possible at present." By fixing six years between polls, more stability would be given to local authority finance and would prevent many of the inequities due to frequent change. All polls on questions of rating systems shduld coincide with the triennial elections for councillors. As a general principle, the committee thought that the power of counties to create special rating areas should be considerably extended. The residential areas required relatively greater services, and therefore expenditure, by county councils than the rural parts, and it was only just that those residential areas should be required to bear a greater proportion of the expenditure. It was admitted quite frankly that the creation of these special rating areas would frequently tend to force amalgamation of those residential areas with adjacent local bodies; that, however, was a move in the right direction and would obviate many of the existing difficulties. The abolition of present statutory subsidies to counties was . recommended. While retaining the present system of State highways and subsidies for main highways, counties should be given £ for £ subsidy on county roads, that subsidy to be found principally from the Main Highways Fund. No change in the system of grants from the Public Works Fund was proposed. The unexpired liability of some, county councils and some smaller borough councils in connexion with roads taken over for State and main highways should be assumed immediately by the Main Highways Board.

Government Departments • Recommendations that some Government trading departments and the trading undertakings of local authorities should pay rates were made. Where the Crown took over land for farming and housing previously held by a private individual, the Crown should accept responsibility for all rates accruing from the time it took over the land. In other cases, when Crown land became revenue producing, rates should be paid. The committee found no case for the paying of rates on ordinary departmental buildings, schools, and such like public institutions.

Property reverting to the State Advances Corporation as administrator of the loans of the late State Advances Office should Day normal rates and the. corporation should be liable for rates as an ordinary lessor "or mortgagee and should not be entitled to shelter under its prerogative as a department of the Crown. PAYMENT OF £1 A MEETING MEMBERS OF ALL LOCAL BODIES A recommendation that members of a local body may be paid a maximum of £1 a meeting, with a maximum of £52 for any one year, was made by the Local Government Committee in . its report. The proposal applied to all local bodies, including electric power boards. "It may be that the maximum will need to be reduced in the case of some of the smaller ad hoc boards so that there will notjie ah encouragement to hold unnecessary meetings," added the report. , The present system of appointing Government nominees on harbour and fire boards had no justification, said the report, and there was no case for Government representation on hospital boards. The continuation of appointment of a rabbit inspector on a rabbit board or committee was recommended; The committee further reported that the representation on harbour boards of shipowners and payers of dues should be discontinued, and that no ease had been made out for the representation of doctors or nurses on hosDital boards.

"Some facilities should be made for some form of postal voting* where voters in a local body election are unavoidably absent on polling day," reported the committee. "We do not think that any arrangement for absentee voting or invalid voting, as carried out in national elections, is administratively feasible." ,

Although the committee could not recommend that party affiliations be shown on ballot papers, it thought some legal provision should be made to enable voters to be supplied with a party ticket. That was particularly necessary in the larger local authorities, where the number of candidates tended to be excessive.

In boroughs and town districts, voting on loan polls should not be confined to ratepayers, but the extension to all persons entitled to be enrolled on the ordinary electors' roll was not recommended for coun'.ies. The only case in which -he committee recommended an alteration of the present nlural voting procedure was by the abolition of the occupier's vote and the vote for a ratepayer's wife. The presen; position of honoraria of chairmen of counties was inequitable, and a recommendation was made that a maximum of £2OO be paid, plus travelling expenses when travelling on county businesses. The differences in travelling expenses of local body members was unsatisfactory, and the issue of regulations covering all local authority members was recommended.

"VERY SATISFACTORY TO CITY" COMMENT BY MAYOR OF CHRISTCHURCH A preliminary study of the report of the Select Committee on Local Government suggested that it would be "most useful, and very satisfactory to the citizsns of Christchurch," said the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr E. H. Andrews) yesterday He said it would need more time to give a considered opinion on all the recommendations, but it was apparent that the findings were substantially in accord with the evidence given by the Christchurch City Council. "The idea of a permanent commission is a new .one, and on first consideration it appears excellent," said Mr Andrews. He said the report appeared to deal most satisfactorily with the problem of the multiplicity of local bodies both internal and external to the city.

accepted by the Hydro-Electric Department, was that an annual levy up to, but not exceeding one quarter of, 1 per cent, be made on the revenue of all supply authorities, including the department. On present figures this would produce £20,000 a year. The annual subsidy would be limited to 50 ner cent, of the total annual costs of operating the lines, with a maximum of 7* per cent, of the capital cost of the lines, the period of assistance to be limited to 15 years.