‘Sinking of parochial interests needed’

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32634, 16 June 1971, Page 1

‘Sinking of parochial interests needed’

(New Zealand Preu Association; ROTORUA, June 15. To achieve its objectives the Local Government (Commission needed more good will and more tolerant understanding than it had so far received, the Governor-General (Sir Arthur Porritt) said in Rotorua tonight.

The commission also needed “more voluntary sinking of local and parochial interests towards consideration of national well-being,” he said. Sir Arthur Porritt was opening the annual conference of the New Zealand Counties* Association. The commission was set up after the war to consider all

i questions dealing with reorganisation of local government. “It persists in its difficult, often thankless, task of plan- ' ning the co-ordination and execution of regional works and services," said Sir Arthur Porritt. "Although small gains have been recorded in vari- ’ ous parts of the country over 1 recent years its streamlining efforts have run into much * opposition.” , Sir Arthur Porritt said that ' the complex problem of multiplication of local authorities became more difficult to solve every day. By 1928 counties established in 1894 had more than doubled from the original 663. "Although this number has been reduced by 20 in the last 45 years the local authority government state-of-play today is approximately 1000 local bodies (about 260 of them geographical). “They are working through 21 Departments of State and employing 60 or more statutes to do so. "These are the hard, cold facts and few would deny that there are in the country a number of local bodies whose machinery has become overloaded.”

Sir Arthur Porritt said that those bodies were initially geared to deal with the problems of small and isolated settlements, but their resources were inadequate and functions few. He said that local government was probably the truest expression of democracy. “Local sentiment, pride and a sense of identity have to be balanced against economics and increased efficiency—* delicate task indeed?

He said that in due course the smaller administrative organisations “that have so nobly fulfilled their contemporary tasks” would have to give place to larger administrative units.

“Put at its basic level, increasing centralisation of local government would be an adequate expression of the emergence of a satisfactory state of internal transportation.

“The answer to this allembracing $64,000 question of how to marry peacefully increased efficiency and economy with the maintenance of local sentiment and pride still proves elusive,” said Sir Arthur Porritt.