AMALGAMATION OF COUNTIES

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27992, 12 June 1956, Page 18

AMALGAMATION OF COUNTIES

“ ROOM FOR SEVERAL MORE ” MR GOOSMAN ADDRESSES COUNTY ENGINEERS (New Zealand Press Association> AUCKLAND, June 11. There was room for several more county amalgamations, said the Minister of Works and chairman of the National Roads Board (Mr W. S. Goosman) addressing the annual meeting of the New Zealand Institute of County Engineers in Auckland today. He drew attention to the limited resources some counties had, and said that with the need for larger works schemes and more machinery was the need for a greater administration. The biggest county, Westland, with in area of 4410 square miles, carried an unimproved rateable value of £375.000 and an improved value of £1,568,000 (1951), Mr Goosman said. On the other hand, Heathcote’s 19 square miles were assessed at £747,000 unimproved and £2,813,000 improved. The improved values and areas of other counties included: Southland, £36,700,000, 3724 square miles; Waipa, £20,500,000, 445 square miles; Waitomo, £3,500,000, 1138 square miles. “The difficulty of a lot of counties is that their rating resources are so small there is no chance of doing anything on their own,” he said. The president (Mr E. A. Collins) said in his annual report that it was unquestionably true that a county could be too small to carry out economically the requirements demanded by modern trends in administration and procedure. The only solution apparent was the amalgamation of small units into one of appropriate size.