SUBMISSIONS BY COUNTIES

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 14

SUBMISSIONS BY COUNTIES

Finance, Control Issues 'New Zeaiana Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 18. When the executive of the Counties’ Association met the Minister of Works (Mr Watt) this week it submitted that the effects of the National Roads Amendment Bill, in its present form, would be:— (1) A reduction in the amount' of money to be made available for expenditure on roads serving the rural population of New Zealand. <2> The revocation of the present provisions that enable county councils to receive their share of the national roads funds as of right, which enables them to expend such funds in the best considered manner on the roads they control. (3) The replacement of county councils and their qualified professional officers by central government officers employed by the National Roads Board in Wellington for the purpose oi deciding the standards for local county roads. The executive accepted the Minister’s offer to discuss proposals in the bill with officers ot his department, but it made a strong protest against the bill proceeding during the present session of Parliament. A request that it be deferred for a year to enable all local authorities to review the proposals, or alternatively that the bill be placed before a committee of the House so that interested parties could submit their representations, was made.