GRANTS CONDEMNED.

Evening Star, Issue 15138, 20 March 1913, Page 5

GRANTS CONDEMNED.

GOVERNMENT’S PROBABLE ALTERNATIVE. [Special to the Stah.] WELLINGTON, March 19. The round condemnation of specific grants to local bodies uttered by the M mister of Public Works at Kaikohe, coupled with the visit of the Assistant Under-Secretary of his department to New South Wales, afford a fair indication of the lines favored by the Government in remodelling the system of grants to local bodies in the Dominion. Mr Short, the Public Works officer who was deputed to investigate the New South Wales system, has been several weeks at his task, and will not leave for New Zealand until the first week in April. His inquiries are being made with thoroughness, the system of allocations from the Consolidated Fund to local bodies being examined not only from tho viewpoint of tho State officers, but also that of tho local authorities. Tho method followed in New South Wales is to distribute what are called endowments to shires (or counties), which arc classified every third year, the position being determined according to the extent of tho shire, the probable revenue from Id in the £ rate, the necessary expenditure, and the public works to bo constructed and maintained. The annual payments are made on the basis of tho amount of general rate collected in the preceding year. The shires are classed under six groups, entitling them to subsidies ranging from 10s up to £2 on each £ of general rate.