The Clutha Leader

Clutha Leader, Volume XII, Issue 597, 25 December 1885, Page 3

The Clutha Leader

no. m

TO THS __fJ-CTORS OF CL-T&-.

. _D___R : Sies, — -In my*last letter I said that I would iv. ray next direct your-

attention to tha locaj gpyeriynent pro-

posals of last session.. The Govern- , ment dqring the- first* spssion they wore : office and during* the subsequent •fecess led people to belieye that they would deal in a. very eflSjcient 'manner-

with local government. . They brought

down three bills dealing with the subject These w.ere the Local Bodies Finance a.rid Powers Bill, the Counties Amendment Bjd.l, and the Hospitals audi Charitable institutions Bill. The. slightest glance,, hpwever, at these- billsdispelled the illu-sion that local government was at last to be put on a satisfactory footing* The principal feature iri, the first named bill was the revival «_ the old system of subsidies in the distribution of the assistance to the local bodies, instead o£ the method provided -by the Roads an,dj Bridges Con-

{fraction Act. . ; The- bDI therefore pro-

Tided for the repeal, of that Act. The bill as introduced had sff clauses; betides 3 schedules, but as passed it had

only 9 clauses; ju_d one schedule. The bijl dealt witK/Ofch-er matters besides subsidies, but this was as I have said

the. principal. feature of the bilL Here j.. may make a few reriiarks regarding the Roads and Bridges Construction

jActj-which the new Act has supplanted^ The Roads and Bridges Act was passed in. -the interests o>f the poorer districts and of districts: that had not made much progress in, the way of roadmaking. It was not intended for districts that were well supplied with -roads. The chief objections taken to it were that the settled districts would, not receive r_,uch advantage from %b K arid that the South Island would receive little benefit from it as compared with the North Jsland. I think, however, it will be round if one looks carefully into the figures that the results which these objections anticipated have not been realized, that considerable&ums of money have been, spent under the Act in the settled districts and that the South Island has reaped about as much benefit from it as the North Island. My chief objection to the Act was the large amount of assistance which it provided for the main roads as compared with the district roads. The unequal treatment in this respect led to a movement on the part of many local bodies to have as many roads as possible de-. clared main roads, and the result was that the more settled districts, were able

to tak:. more advantage of the Act

than they otherwise could have done The Act in question was not by any means a satisfactory measure. This, was owing chiefly to the difficulty of the subject with which it had to deal. It was an expensive Act to work, and |n working it too many references had to be made. Still, lam free to admit

that, it wrought better than I expected

it would do when it was put on the Statute book. I come now to speak of

the Local Bodies Finance and Powers Bill, the principal future of which is

as I have said the revival of the sub-

eidy system, which as usually understood means that the assistance ren-

dered by the Government to the local bodies, shall bear a certain proportion to the rates raised by the local body. If the

local bodies are to be assisted out of the public purse, there is the difficulty of distributing the money. It was thought that the Government would devise some easy and satisfactory way of doing this. But the only plan

apparently that they could think of was the old subsidy system, a plan which on the whole wrought well in the early days, but which as time wore on became less and less adapted to the Colony, until at last it. was superseded \>j the Roads and Bridges Act, which provided a different way of allocating the money; and now the Roads and Bridges Act is in its turn seperseded by the Local Bodies Finance Act, which again provides that the assistance rendered shall be allocated according to the rule of thumb. This method* of distribution has the merit of simplicity, and this is its chief merit. The amount of the rates being known, the amount of. assistance to be rendered is also known. It may be said generally, however, that under the subsidy system those districts that require the least get the most, and that the districts that require the. most get the least The oldest and richest districts are the best able to pay high rates. They are therefore under the subsidy system entitled to the largest amount of assistance, but they do not need it so much as the new and out? lying distriots. The latter districts, on the contrary, are less able to rate themselves. They are therefore entitled to less assistance, but they need it more than the older and richer districts. I admit that the Government endeavored to. cope 1 -with this difficulty by providing that the assistance rendered should be on a sliding scale, — that where the amount collected as rates is large, the subsidies should be on a smaller ratio, and vice versa. But the circumstances of the Colony are so different that it is almost impossible to devise a uniform system that would suit the several districts. This method of distribution alto holds out an inducement to districts to reduce their local rates, be- _}_!_§» if _t©/ feeop tfeejß low tb^ get

a larger amount of assistanc_4han;-they otherwise would. :d<k . The money.allocated to the local .bodies under the Roads and Bridges Construction Act was all spent oh new works. This also was the intention of the Local Bodies Finance Bill. But the subsidy system is not quite content with limit-&_g-;th-' assistance given simply to new works.. At all events; the - assistance extended tosthe local bodies by the act

as it passed the Legislature is not,, as

under tbe old act, limited- to new works. . It may be spent In maintenance or new ; works at the. option of the local body -.ceiying it. I think it is only fair

that maintenance should be paid for

out; of rates. There was this : satisfaction, under the Roads and Bridges. Act, that tbe money allocated to the local bodies was expended in opening up the country- by new roads and bridges. I fully expect that tlie greater part of the. subsidies received by the local bodies will still be so expended. But this, as I have said, rests entirely with, the local bodies themselves. You sinv ply give them the money, and allow tbjffm to spend it in. maintenance ornoNY^works as they think proper. These -things seem to show that we have not yet hit the right mode of distribution,— =tthat if the Roads and Bridges -Construction. Act was bad, the Local Bodies Finance Bill, that was to take its, place, was just about as. bad. . But even; granting thajt the subsidy* system is better than the other, what was the use ol making any change \yjien the change itself was so unsatisfactory ? It is desirable when the law on any subject is changed that the nesv law should be a decided improvement on the oldj law, but this doea not seem to haye beeuMthe case as regards the new law ref_rl_ed to^ I think it ra,ust be evident to anyone who has a fair knowledge of the country that there are some counties, and well-settled districts iv a good many others, that could do well enough without any or very little assistance. The districts. tb.at chiefly require assistan.ce are the more recently settled districts, and districts that are in course of settlement. The sooner some system can* be devised of limiting in a great measure assistance to those districts that most require it so, much the better. In speaking to you about tlie subsidies it is necessary that I should refer to the manner in which the Treasurer proposed that the local bodies should have what he called an assured finance. The Government had promised an assured finance. This was the term put into the Governor's speech tho previous session. Everybody who had any knowledge of local matters wondered, what could possibly be in the mind of the Government when they promised to the local bodies an assured finance. However, the mystery was solved when the Treasurer made his. Financial Statement. He then explained his scheme. The bill which he introduced to give effect to it provided that L.3?00,000 per annum should l>,e set aside for the local bodies for 25 y-ears. L 300,000 for 25 years comes to L7\50.Q,G00. This is the extent to which the bill proposed the local bodies should bo assisted. One would naturally conclude that the in* tentkm of the Government would be to allocate in- some unexceptionable manner this money annually ajnotng the local bodies. This, however, was root the intention, and probably there is not one man in a thousand who, if asked to give their opinion as to the intentions of the Government, would hit the mark by giving a correct answer. Each local body was to have the power of borrowing at once all the money that would come to it by way of subsidy during- the next 25 years. The security it would have to offer would be the payment of the subsidy by the Gqvernnient. The probability is that all the local bodies would have borrowed at once to the full extent that the law permitted them. Indeed the intention of the provision was that the local bodies should do this, and the reason for giving them this power was to bind the Legislature to pay the money, because money having been borrowed by the local bodies on the strength of the payment of the subsidy the Legislature would be in honor bound to provide for the payment of it. However, the Legislature would not allow itself Jo be bound in this manner. Perhaps there was not a member- of the House, including even the members of the Government, who believed in the proposal, with the exception of the Treasurer himself. If he bad had his own way the country would have been saddled -almost at once with an additional debt; of seven and a-half millions, the interest on which Mrould have been met only by additional taxation. And this just shews what a dangerous man the Treasurer is to have at the head of affairs. Had the will of the Treasurer beeii given effect to the subsidies would not have, been subsidies but simply interest and sinking, fund on money borrowed by. the local bodies. -Many strange proposals have been made to

Legislatures, but probably no more ridiculous proposal was ever made to any Legislature. The sense of the House was, as might be expected, so strong, against it that the Government did not push it to a division. It has sometimes been. said that this proposal of the Treasurer is extremely ingenious, as, if this was something in its favor. Ingenuity- }§ U9 doubt a. ra-B§t excel,

;l£nt things especially in connection, with the mechanical arts, but it seem_ ; to me to be rather out of place in connection with public affairs. We do not want ingenious financial policies. There can be no doubt that the ingenuity here displayed is entirely the Treasurer's. When he was referring last recess to the question of local government he said that the Premier was engaged with the general pro.-. visions, and that he himself had the financial part of the business in han,d. This is. no doubt the scheme, which he was then concocting. The Government first of all departed from the 25 years part of the business. Then it was proposed; that the subsidies should continue ior only two years. But this also was departed from, a,nd provision made, simply for granting subsidies; for the last half of the current year. If therefore assistance ,in any sb.ap& is^tp.be. continued to the local bodies, there must be fresh legislation next session. The act, as put on. the Statute book, so far at least as regards assistance to the local bodies,, may- be said, to be a sheer- work of destruction, consisting simply of a repeal of the Roads and Bridges Act, and a substitution of six months' subsidies in lieu of . the assistance provided by the act which it repeals. Such is, the insignificant result of the bill that was to give an assured finance to the local bpdies. The feeling of disappointment with the Apt was to some, extent due to the, great expectations, which the Government themselves had raised in the public mind in regard to this matter of local government. The intimal-ion that the Premier and the Treasurer were both engaged in it led people to expect something very superior. -As the two members of the Cabinet referred to were both men of undoubted- ability, people, naturally concluded that at last a scheme of local government would be brought forward that was suited to the circumstances of the country. If they ha,d thought more of the difficulty of the subject v and less of tbe blo.wing of trumpets with which it was heralded, the disappointment with the scheme might not have been so great as it, was. The Roads and Bridges Act provided that the avssistance rendered to the local bodies should come out of the. Land Fund, and the Public Works Fund. The Local Bodies Finance Act, however, provides that it should come partly out of the Public Works Fund and partly out of . the Consolidated Fund. The Land Fund is. no doubt the proper source out of which assistance should come, but, failing this, I niay- just say that a portion of the-as&ista-nce rendered may fairly ' be taken out of the Consolidated Fund. I do not see any better purpose to which a. portion of the general resources can be put than in opening up the country by roads and bridges. If time permitted I might now make some suggestions, regarding the distribution of assistance to the local bodies. The Hospital and Charitable Institutions Act is. intimately connected with the Local Bodies Finance Act. I intended in this letter to make some observations regarding the former act,

but the subject is so large I must put it off for the pres.ent. One subject that has occupied a large portion of the time o£ the House during the last two sessions is the East and West Coast railway scheme. It was my intention to conclude this, series of letters by devoting a letter- to this proposed work, But Ido not think a letter on, this subject would be very interesting reading for a New Year's day. I shall therefore put it off also, at least in the meantime, and now bring this series., of letters to a close. In doing so I may be permitted to express the hope that some of my constituents have learned something from them,. If the letters have assisted any elector- to understand any public matter a little better than, he did before, or if they- have induced any one to resolve to take a greater- interest in public affairs than he has been accustomed to do, I shall consider myself sufficiently recompensed for any trouble I may have put myself, to in writing these letters. Before concluding I may just say that I may again address you through the Press on other subjects, but whether I do this or not I intend before Parliament meets to address you personally at a few plaoes in the dis? trict.

Wishing you all the Compliments qf the season. — I am, &c,

James W. Thomson.