OBSOLETE COUNTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1936, Page 8

OBSOLETE COUNTIES

WHO PAYS THE RATES?

HOW TO SECURE : •• VALUES

EXPANDING'WELLINGTON

(By "Tramper.") Wellington's' suburban- expansion into the Makara County and along the west coast, via Tawa. Flat,; was the subject of a recent- article...Wellington's suburban expansion in the : Hutt and Wainui-o-mata Valleys, where the Hutt County is concerned, is of equal importance. : •• ' Unlike the ■ Tawa Flat-west coast area, and unlike the Wamui-b-mata area, the Hutt Valley needed no tunnel to open it up to suburban develop- ■ ment. It was, and. is, the greatest expanse... of fiat land,, with level access, ' that Nature has provided for the expansion of the Capital City. But tunnelling, plus modern transport, is bringing the coastal: area very, close to the city, ana the Hutt Val- j ley will need progressive administration if it is to keep its place at the head of the procession. With a i grade of 1 in 120 in the Tawa Flat tunnel, and with electrification of the railway to Paekakariki, the coastal area is, mitigating natural transport difficulties. No similar improvement has been effected in Hutt Valley railway transport, but the Government -is trying out railcars, and.is constructing an auxiliary motor highway west of the Hutt River. HUTT PRIDE. At a time when Tawa Flat and Porirua were thought of only as farms, the Hutt, Valley produced two boroughs, Petone and Lower Hutt, distinguished for their localisation ■" of view. They have never been known to agree in any one thing save the parochial step of contracting themselves out of the Water Board, The Water Board was an attempt at cooperation ..of local bodies in joint administration of that water supply and scenic trust—the 78.000 acres of public ;forest and' mountain occupying the head waters of the Hutt and the Orongorongo and the Wainui-o-mata Rivers. The, Water Board expressed the idea of large-viewed, co-operative local government expanding afield in the. interests1 of .forest conservationand a supply of pure water -for human use. The Water Board could have been made a real expression of the "regionalism" that is talked about in town-planning circles and never practised.. But the Lower Hutt and the Petone Borough Councils were proud # to stand apart from the Water Board. They are also proud to stand apart from each other. ''■''" . But the Hutt Valley comprises much more than Lower Hutt and, Petone. The valley is compressed into a waist just below Silverstream; and this waist'divides it-into a; lower and upper valley. Though the Lower Hutt-Petone area leads New Zealand in population-' expansion, there is room, in the lower valley for it to double itself and more. And .then there is the upper valley, < with, its Upper Hutt Borough, carrying one of. the biggest urisewered populations, in' New' Zealand, and'proud ofdt,:*- HUtt' pride in its various. forms >is one' of the things to be reckoned with. TAIL WILL WAG THE DOG. It is reasonable to. expect that the Hutt Valley will, in.no. long.time carry a greater population than that now living within' the .boundaries of the Wellington City Corporation.. That- is to say, the greater Wellington' which was the goal qf ambition thirty.years ago—an attained ambition—will after all carry less people than the Hutt Valley will carry—given the unity of administration and of policy which the Hutt Valley, under its several authorities, now. lacks. ' ' . The Hutt Valley gave its name to the Hutt County, and through townships under county ' control" the railway ' and road pass' after leaving from Hutt Borough 'and :before reaching Upper Hutt Borough. Construction work on the Western Hutt Road marks a step towards the unity of the valley. Everywhere ther.,e is indication that the county era is passing or has passed. The relationship between the city and its outer environs has become too intimate or sundered and of ten: conflicting administrations., ' J '■■'• . ■ It is reliably estimated that in the Wainui-o-mata riding of the Hutt County 61 per cent, of the rates are paid bypeople who are either residents of Wellington or are in business in Wellington; in this riding county revenue depends on ,the harbour bays, and though dissatisfaction can be smothered for. many years, the writing on the wall of the present system is manifest. ,:' ' , ■'. In Taupo riding of the Hutt County it is estimated that residents of the townships of Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay pay 66 p^er cent, of the ridings rates. * '■■■'".•.,•■ Weraroa is the most northern of the ridings of the Hutt County. It is also the riding in which, most of the farming is done. But even in Weraroa riding the residential area (including Paekakariki, Raumati, Paraparaumu, and Paraparaumu Beach) pays 48 per cent, of the rates. ; ~ STANDARD OF SERVICE. Can it be said that these are communities which, can , continue under the standard of service implied, by county administration? Is there not a demand for a higher standard of sanitary and civic service; and is it attainable without a complete reconstruction of local government in the Wellington region, with extension of the Greater Wellington boundaries even to the extent, if necessary, of the complete absorption of counties? It will be said that farmers cannot stand city rating. But not one farmer in the Greater Wellington area has yet been graned that relief from rates which was prescribed by the legislation of a former Government—on condition that the farmer proved hardship. It is reliably, stated that within thirty miles of the city there is a farmer who. received from a golf club over £400 per annum for the use of his farm as a golf course, and that the club also pays the rates; while the farmer still secures grazing for sheep. In other ways the sports era, fathered by the motor-car, brings city money to the country. The motor-car constantly extends the residential and weekend residential areas. The present local government system was designed for a time when people lived apart. Today the cities overflow, and should carry their responsibilities with them, also the financial power to meet responsibilities. There is no other way of securing developmental cooperation between the metropolis and other parts of what is truly a metropolitan area. All this is clearly envisaged in. the local governmental policy of the present Government. .If that policy is pursued with half the energy that has been put into monetary policy, results must flow.

- The place to begin is the place right under the Government's eye (the Wellington region) and the time is now.