LOCAL BODIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 28, 2 August 1939, Page 11

LOCAL BODIES

FUNCTIONS AND POWERS

ADMINISTRATION PROBLEMS

QUESTIONS OF REFORM

"Administrative Areas and Functions of Local Bodies in New Zealand" was the subject of an interesting address delivered at Victoria College last night by Mr. Arthur G. Harper, Officer in Charge of Local Government, Internal Affairs Department. The lecture was a continuation of the Public Administration series of public lectures by experts on various branches of the subject.

"Local government is half the government of . this country," said Mr. Harper. "There are 666 local authorities actively functioning, and they have a total revenue of over £20,000,000 per annum, with expenditure of a like amount, and they hold assets to the value of anything up to £100,000,000. " Local authorities own something almost everywhere in -the Dominion. They have a loan indebtedness of over £68,000,t)00. They employ over 30,000 people, involving an annual salary and wage bill of nearly £7,000,000. ,We cannot get out of the grip of the local authorities whether we like it or not."

Reviewing the origin and development of the Dominion's system of local government, Mr. Harper' said that when Captain Hobson arrived in 1840 he was instructed "to divide the colony into districts, counties, hundreds, towns, townships, and parishes and to appoint the limits thereof respectively." The object was to set up in New Zealand a system of local government comparable to that of England, and it was still very similar.

Very little was done in the first decade, but during' the term of the Provincial Governments which were set up in 1853, a number of boroughs, towns, road districts, and hospital districts came into being. With the abolition of the provinces in 1876, it was necessary to provide some uniform system for the whole of New Zealand and local government entered upon an entirely new phase.

The passing of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1876; which brought into being the borough councils, and the Counties Act, 1876, which brought into being the county councils, marked the beginning of the present system.

CREATURES OF STATUTE

Referring to local government today, Mr. Harper said it was necessary to remember that local authorities in New Zealand were creatures of statute and could not do anything other than nvhat was expressly authorised by the statute. The various classes of local authorities were divided into territorial local authorities and ad hoc local authorities. The territorial local authorities were confined to county councils, borough councils, and town boards, and the other classes had functions of a special nature.

The borough council was a really important unit in the local government system. . Borough councils were empowered by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, to provide those public utilities and public services which were necessary for the maintenance of modern city and town life. There were 128 . city, and borough councils in existence today.

Mr. Harper explained in detail the constitution of cities and boroughs and explained the nature and scope of the powers and duties of city and borough councils. He dealt similarly with town boards and said that the system of town districts began to function effectively in 1906.

There were at present 34 independent and 22 dependent town districts. The largest was Papatoetoe, near Auckland, with an area of 1267 acres and a population of 2480. The smallest was Havelock, Marlborough, with an area of 210 acres and a population of 260. Turning to the question of rural local government, Mr. Harper said that, like the borough council, the county council was a key,.local authority in the cystem. The. Counties Act, 1867, divided New Zealand into 63 counties, but there were today 129 counties. The major function of the county council was road and bridge construction and maintenance.

WEAKNESS O-F COUNTY SYSTEM.

Particulars were given by the speaker of the great difference in the areas of the various counties in New Zealand, which he described as a glaring weakness of the county system. In the suggested scheme for local body reconstruction many people were convinced that the key to any system of local government reform lay in the creation of larger and stronger counties, he said. >

The various\ aspects of the riding system in county government were dealt with by Mr. Harper. He also touched on the origin and functions of road boards and said that fbr 30 years they performed a very useful service until the need for them vanished. Only 12 of the original 319 now remained. Mr. Harper went on to deal with the ad hoc authorities, which he said had been set up for the execution of specific functions. ' Types of this class of local body dealt with included electric power boards, harbour boards, hospital boards, fire boards, drainage boards, river boards, and rabbit boards. There was a general feeling now that the principle had been overdone, he said, and that the general local authority, properly strengthened and given increased powers, would be a more satisfactory bulwark to democracy than the intense subdivision of functions which had.been the principle of local government in the Dominion in past decades. The ramifications of local body election franchise were also traversed and concisely explained by Mr. Harper, who concluded his address with a discussion of the general powers of local authorities. "I believe that a strong system of local government is one of the best protectors of a democratic institution;" said Mr. Harper. "I believe that we have a good system of local government, but, like all good systems, it is capable of continual improvement. All I would suggest is that New Zealand should keep on strengthening her system of local government so that, m these changing times, it can play its full part in preserving that democratic institution that we so justly prize."