COUNTIES CONFERENCE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1214, 24 August 1911, Page 6

COUNTIES CONFERENCE.

■» —■— GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES. NEW PROPOSALS ADOPTED. The Counties' Conference resumed its deliberations yesterday. It was decided that tho Government be requested to amend the procedure for the compilation of the county rolls so that the name, occupation, address, and qualification cf every elector be set forth; that the methods of compiling the county electors' rolls be altered to do away with the necessity for going before a magistrate; that county electoral rolls be brought into force on tho first day of October, instead of on July 1. Various remits were brought down clo- , - ing with the defraying of councillors <...- penscs when on county business. A remit standing in the name of tho Kaijgitikei County Council was carried as follows:"That tho Government bo asked to amend the Counties Act so as to allow travelling expenses of county councillors being paid whenever Ravelling on "the council's business. It was also decided on tho motion of Pohangina that the Government bo asked to"Amend tho Act in the direction of allowing county councils to pay cluurmen an honorarium in lie" pi travelling expenses as at present.

\ lengthy and technical discussion regarding the question of the cx|*nd,ture of funds in various par sor rulings of e. counties took place. The proposal of the Waimea County was earned, yiz.: 1 "That an amendment should bo made to remove the exSolicitor, be not altered. GOVERNMENT GRANTS. The commitlee set up for the purpose of classifying and condensing nine rem on the Order Paper dealing with slants for roads and bridges, submitted the following:— , ~ „ (l> That it is desirable that all mSeys available for . G»«™me» grants to counties shou d be allotted to tho most urgent works as set out in the schedules supplied by the countv .councils. , "(2) That the Government be requested to issue grant authorities to local authorities as early as possible alter Parliament rises in order Hint plans and specifications may bo prepared, and the Public Works Departments approval thereto be obtained, so that the work may Ire dono whilst labour is available, and that progress payments be made to Hie local authority from time to time at the rate of <J per cent of the work actually done, as certified to by tlio engineer of the .local authority, or a duly qualified engineer, and I'll at the final payment be made upon the certificate of the Government officer that the work has been duly completed to his satisfaction. . (3) That where grants are authorised for expenditure on roads opening up Crown and Native lands which are exempt from rales, or lands which are non-rateable for a period of years, tho cost of supervision, surveying, engineering, etc., be nllowoil as charges against the grant. ! .Mr. W. J. Welch (Mastertou) moved j that No. 1 of lhe above be adopted.— This was earned. I Mr. "J. G. Coate-s (Otamatea) moved the adoption of Paragraph (2).—This was agreed to without discussion. The third paragraph was likewise unanimously adopted on the motion of the Murchison representative. SUBSIDIES ON RATES. In regard to the remits dealing with subsidies- on rates, which a committee the previous day had undertaken to reduce to one motion, the following was submitted as the result:—

"That there bo paid to all county councils a uniform subsidy of five shillings in the pound on all general rates collected up to the prescribed maximum as defined in Section 117 of tho Counties Act, IMS." Mr. G. V. l'oarce, M.P. (Patea) moved that this motion be adopted. He argued that the system of Government grants was for the opening up of new iand and the system, of subsidies for maintaining the roads of tiie county. This proposal would be fairest because it gave a uniform subsidy'irrespective of the size of a county. Mr- W. Fraser, M.P., said that the eUcct of t,io proposal would bo to havo a' l counties treated alike. He was confident that whatever they may think it was absolutely impossible to differentiate between counties. A uniform subsidy, however, would not act perfectly. Counties which at present required special subsidies in a few years would not want them. Others again lyould require special asistance for somo time. The important thing in this difficult, matter was that local bodies, should have the power and means of carrying out the functions for which' they existed. Mr. j. .13. Riddcll (Weber) moved as an amendment: "That tho conference reaffirm the principle that subsidies should be paid on a graduated scale, and that no subsidies be paid on a less rate than Id. in tho £."

Mr. Bcecroft (Rodney) said special assistance from the State must be given - to pa r fc> of the country which were yet undeveloped. He hoped the principle of graduated subsidy would be reaffirmed because settlers would then know that they would get a, particular, amount if they raised so much to help themselves. Mr. James Allen, M.P. (Bruce), said that if tho couicrenco settled this question they would settle the matter of the Local Government Bill. It was the one outstanding problem in regard to local government. He did not himself think a uniform subsidy was fair; it was helping the rich people at the expense of the. poor. It would not give any more assured finance to the local bodies than the system of graduated subsidies. They should above all things affirm the principle that those counties would be \ helped which helped themselves. (Hear, hear.") Mr. Pearco (Patca) admitted there were objections to tho scheme, but greater objections, perhaps, would arise in regard to any other scheme they brought down. Mr. F. Horrell (Rangiora) believed that the uniform subsidy was best in view of tile /act that they had affirmed the principle of grants to tho back-blocks districts. Mr. VC. Goodlands (Hnwcra) said his county had to find interest on .£BO,OOO worth of borrowed money before they could spend a penny on .work's. They had to Tate themselves "on an average value of JJ4O an acre. Why should they not receive, the samo assistance, in Government subsidies, as those counties further back wlu could rate thernselvo and would not? (Hear, hear.) Mr. Marchaul (Stra(ford) foresaw great difficulties in the way of framing any system of graduated subsidies. Tho chairman said that it seemed as if they were scarcely unanimous enough to go to the Government with any definite scheme. In this respect they were very little farther forward than a few years back. Speaking b the proposal, lie said there wa.s no doubt that large counties would receive a greater measure of benefit under it than in the past. However, lie was scrry they could not offer a unanimous opinion to the Government, and sines that was not to he, they must leave it to the Government to formulate some scli&me themselves later. The amendment was lost, and the report of tho committee was adopted by 10 votes to l>. '

SPEECH BY THE HON. D. BUDDO. A visitor to the conference yesterday morning was the Hon. D. Buddo {ActingMinister for Lands and Internal Affairs). In the course of some remarks, Mr. liuddo referred to the Local Government Bill, which had been drafted. He had not brought it with him. There were local authorities which re»ardcd assured finance as the chief thing, though economy was really the important factor. It would Ije generally recognised, said fhe Minister in conclusion tliat there was a groat difficulty in formulating a new Local Government Bill, in which to please evorybodv. The conference, ndjournpd until !i.;i a.m. to-day..