The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1888.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5204, 26 April 1888, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 1888.

If a poll of the ratepayers within Town Districts were taken, we wonder whether tho verdict would be, at th<i present day, for or against the creation of these villages into embryo municipalities? In soino Town Districts, no doubt, much good work has been effected; but whether it has been worth the cost is another matter. In other townships the elevation of the village has ontailed nothing but loss; it is questionable whether there has been any gain from partition from Road Board and County- Council. The Town Districts Act confers iilmost municipal powers upon villages taking advantage of it; and these small localities are apt to over-estimate theadvantasres of these powers without calculating their cost. So far as tho Act has been brought into operation in Hawko's Bay we do not think much solid benefit has been obtained from it. This is not the fault of the Act, which is a most useful measure in its way, but it is owing to the fact that every little community wants to run beforo it cau walk. As a rule, when a locality succeeds in securing local government the first thing it aims ut is a loan. It cannot get on without money, and if it has not got the wherewithal to expend in improvements, it must borrow. Wo do not think tho American plan has ever been tried in New Zealand by which the townspeople voluntarily set to work tocarry out such minor improvements as forming and kerbing footpaths, metalling roads, making open drains and keeping , them clean. All this sort of thing might bo done voluntarily; and if people would only" work together for the common good a great deal of expense would be saved, A glance at the Township of Taradale will show that it offers no appearance of improvement to the general observer since it has obtained local government. It has a look about it of neglect and iudifference ou the part of the residents. Situated only about iivo or six miles from a town of over SOOO inhabitants, and possessing splendid soil, it might and ought to have been a most flourishing suburb, supplying all the dairy and market garden requirements of Napier. But the district wears anything bxit a flourishing appearance. There is an air of dejection about tho dwellings, tho gardens, tho fences, and drains, which is very melancholy. Instead of improving with time, it seems to have gono backward with age. There is no evidence of progress, and nothing cheerful or hopeful in its prospects. It was far better oft' under county government than it is under tho Town Districts Act; and we are rather under the impression that tho same thing may be said of Waipawa. The residents thwo may be able to point to a variety of advantages that have been gained since they elevated the village into a town, but to the outsider there is scarcely any outward and visiblo sign of any gain that could not have been obtained under the old sj-stem. Mr Tanner, it is understood, when he addresses his constituents at Waipawa next week, intends to touch upon the local government question. With his views on that subject we uro well acquainted, and we thoroughly agree with them ; but there is one point to which wo hope ho will refer. In advocating a return to a modified system of provincialism, how does he propose to deal with the loans that have been raised by local bodies since they have been callel into existence by tho Abolition of Provinces ? The indebtedness of these loctl bodies is enormous, and in consolidating iid it were the government of the country, some account must be taken of theso debts. When tho Provinces wero done away with tho General Government took over their debts; and in giving extended boundaries and enlarged powers to counties, something must be done in the way of making them responsible for tho interest and principal of tho lomis raised Ivy- the k-bser bodies within their borders. Ihe subject is a diilicult one to deal with, and is rendered none the easier by the reilcction that many small district*! (ire already feeling the pressure of their debts, and would In- glad to bo relieved of their responsibility.