LOCAL BODY CONTROL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25161, 17 April 1947, Page 6

LOCAL BODY CONTROL

Personnel Of Commission

CHAIRMAN MR I. J. GOLDSTINE

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 16. The Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr W. E. Parry) announced to-night that the following have been ap pointed to the Local Governmen Commission pursuant to the Loca Government Commission Act, 1946: — Mr I. J. Goldstine, 0.8. E., Mayor o One Tree Hill, has been appointee chairman of the commission. “Mi Goldstine’s wide experience of loca government problems, together witi his extensive legal training, fits hin

adequately for such a judicial post as chairman, which carries with it a status equivalent to that of the Judge of the Supreme Court,” said Mr Parry. Mr W. C. E. George, of Rotorua, is the second member. Mr George was some years ago Mayor of Huntly, in which position he was responsible for many of the improvements in that town. He was also a prominent member of the Municipal Association. The other two members, nominated by national associations of local bodies, and appointed by the Government, are:

Mr J. W. Andrews, Mayor of Lower Hutt, and the president of the Municipal Association, and Mr G. A. Monk, chairman of the Horowhenua County Council, who is also a very prominent member of the Counties’ Association. “The ccinmission,” said Mr Parry, “is a very strong body, and should command the confidence of everyone who has the well-being of local government in New Zealand at heart. The members have given long and valued service in local bodies throughout the Dominion, and all have proved, in their national associations, that they have that wide vision necessary to enable them to undertake the onerous work of the commission.

"The setting up of this commission marks a milestone in the constitutional history of the Dominion,” said Mr Parry. “For over 50 years Parliament has tried to produce some method of dealing with what is recognised as one of the most difficult problems in the Dominion. We now have a non-poua-cal body in the form of a judicial commission, presided over by one who has the status of a judge, charged with the duty of so reorganising the local government structure of the Dominion that it will be able to carry out effectively the heavy tasks that lie before it in the post-war world.”