LOCAL BODY REFORM

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 256, 27 July 1939, Page 13

LOCAL BODY REFORM

Attitude Of Government Outlined Almost, without exception, the evidence placed before the Parliamentary committee which considered the Amalgamation Bill for county councils saggested that there was some need for reform, and that existing methods were unsatisfactory, said th Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Parry, when openin" the biennial conference of the New Zealand Counties’ Association in. Wellington yesterday. Mr. Parry said the Government was anxious proceed along the most satisfactory lines. The Parliamentary committee, which was composed of members representing all shades of political opinion, went verv thoroughly into the proposals putforward by the Counties’ Association for the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry to examine thoroughly the whole problem of local government tn the Dominion, but it felt that such a commission could do little other than suggest that something oifght to be done, and that had already been admitted. It could not be suggested that a commission could finally and nitely replan local government in the Dominion. Even when such a commission had presented its report there would be a necessity for separate commissions in relation to specific proposals. and that was specifically what th® Bill proposed. Mr. Parry said he thought there haa been some misapprehension as to the real functions of the commissions proposed in the Bill. In no sense were their functions merely the putting in.o operation of a preconceived idea. As the Parliamentary commission pointed out, they would have the function of Investigating thoroughly, with the aid of any experts which they might desire the whole problem of local government, and, in effect, rheir report should provide a regional plan for the particular area under consideration. The committee recommended that tne section of the Bill which placed the onus of proving that an amalgamation was not desirable on the objecting party, should be omitted from the Bill. He was quite prepared to adopt that suggestion. The report of the committee was at present being given the closest consideration by the Government, and he expected to be able to give some definite indication of proposed developments in the very near future. OVERLAPPING OF ACTIVITY Request For Commission Of Inquiry Reaffirmation of a motion passed last year that the association ask for a commission of inquiry into what tunetions could best be done by the Dominion Government and what by local bodks was expressed by the New Zealand Counties’ Association at its biennial conference in Wellington yesterdn The motion was moved by the president, Mr. C. J. Talbot. The seconder of the motion, Mr. W. Marshall (Paeroa) said that the association had not asked for any inquiry Into amalgamation and how it should be brought into effect. In the opinion of the association there was overlapping In State activity and local body ac tlvity.