Local Government Units “Too Small”

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31657, 18 April 1968, Page 30

Local Government Units “Too Small”

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, April 17.

The main problem in local government reorganisation was preventing authorities from becoming so big that they lost democratic contact with the electors, Sir Francis Hill said today.

A member of a Royal commission examining local body reorganisation in England and Wales, Sir Francis Hill is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the Municipal Association. He will attend the association’s annual conference at Rotorua on April 30. He told a press conference that the basic problem was

probably the same in New Zealand as in Britain —existing units of local government were too small. Local bodies were formed when transport was different and technical equipment much simpler, he said. Now that authorities had to invest in computers and other sophisticated, expensive machinery, amalgamation into larger units had to be studied. “The question is how much bigger they can become without losing democratic contact with the electors,” said Sir Francis Hill. Striking a balance between efficiency and economy, and the maintenance of a viable democracy, was the main problem.