LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Evening Star, Issue 25425, 5 March 1945, Page 4

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SITTING OF SELEGT COMMITTEE EVIDENCE HEARD IN DUNEDIN Evidence .concerning; local body affairs in Otago was submitted at a sitting in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall this morning of the Select Committee on local government. The members of the committee -are Messrs D. W. Coleman, M.P. (chairman), J. Acland. M.P., W. H. Gillespie, M.P., C. H. Petrie, M.P., and S.-W. Smith, M.P. PLEA FOR FARMERS. The inequality of county rating in its incidence to farmers was emphasised by Mr J. S. Elliott, farmer, of Middlemarch, who contended that the man on the land was required to contribute more than hie fair share to the . national income. In the case of taxation for special purposes, such as hospital and road maintenance, he" suggested that those who received the special benefits should .be called on collectively to pay for them, and that if the special taxation levied for the purpose fell short of the required amount the Consolidated Fund should hear the burden. Farmers were required to pay twice for hospital benefits_ and road maintenance, added Mr Elliott, and they could not pass on taxation charges because the values of farm produce were arbitrarily fixed, either by world market rates or by commandeer or stabilisation limits decided by a Government. A (farmer's income was liable to* fluctuate a great deal owing to seasonal and market conditions. A capital tax on the land was most unsatisfactory, even if it could be proved that such a method of taxation was fair and equitable. A farmer must put a considerable portion of his gross income back into the land in order to maintain fertility, so that when income shrank farm maintenance was bound to suffer. From a national point of view, as well as from that of the farming industry and of the # individual, it was desirable that taxation should be based on income, concluded Mr Elliott. VIEWS OF OTAGO COUNTIES. Evidence was submitted by Mr J. Rodman on behalf of the counties of Otago—-Waitaki, Waihemo, Waikouaiti. Maniototo, Vincent, Tuapeka, Bruce, Taieri, and Peninsula. Mr _ Rodman submitted a statement in which it was stated that the counties of Otago unanimously supported the evidence tendered in Wellington by the parent body, the New Zealand Counties' Association. The Otago counties were- of the opinion that amending legislation should be enacted to the Counties' Act, 1920, and the Rating Act, 1.925, to provide for the closing of the financial year of counties on June 30 instead of March 31. The financial year of most farmers closed on June 30, and it would he preferable if the counties' financial year was brought into lino to suit the farming community. For instance, the financial year of harbour boards close-l on September ,30 to suit shipping requirements. It was considered, said Mr Rodman, that Section 38. Sub-section 2, of the Harbours Act, 1923, should be amended to provide that the appointment to an extraordinary vacancy in the case of a combined district should be on. the recommendation of the local authorities in such district. This would bring harbour boards into line' with hospital boards and electric power boards.

. CONSTITUTION OF HARBOUR BOARDS. Mr Rodman' said it was considered by the counties that harbour boards throughout New Zealand—and the Otago Harbour Board in particular—(should be modelled on the constitution of the Lyttelton Harbour Board. Of she 14 members of that- board, eight represented country districts. Counties and boroughs in the Lyttelton Harbour Board district_ were grouped according to population and valuation for representation. For instance, although tho port of Lyttelton was wholly coucentratad at Lyttelton. Borough, this borough, with its 3,000 inhabitants, had no special representation on the Lyttelton Harbour Board. Lyttelton Borough was grouped with the boroughs of New Brighton, Sumner, and Akaroa and the counties of Akaroa, Wairewa, and Mount Herbert to provide one representative. (Combined population 1',890, combined valuation £4,94.6,000.) Tn the case of the Otago Harbour Board, Port Chalmers, with only 2,020 inhabitants and a valuation of only £332.000, had two representatives on the Otago Harbour Board; West Harbour, with a population of 1,780 and a valuation of £400,000, had one representative; whereas the counties of Clutha, Bruce, Tuapeka, Maniototo, Taieri, Waihemo, Waikouaiti, and Peninsula, together with the boroughs therein, with a population of 45,000 and a valuation of £15,542,000, had only two representatives. Again, Vineent County and tha,boroughs of Alexandra and Cromwell, with a combined population of G.1'20 and a valuation of £2,088,001), had no representation on the Otago Harbour Board. It was considered that the Vincent County and the boroughs therein were entitled to representation on the Otago Harbour Board. With their inclusion, the county districts of the Otago Harbour Board district were, on a population and valuation basis, entitled to six representatives. DRIVING LICENSES. While admitting that aii adequate and uniform system of testing applicants for motor drivers' licenses should be . adopted if the present regulations were not considered sufficiently comprehensive, Mr Rodman contended that this could best be accomplished by # an amendment to' the motor regulations, leaving it to the local authority to enforce them. The issue of a restricted license to drivers resident in sparselypopulated areas who could not be tested in more or less dense traffic might be considered, the restriction to be rescinded upon the passing of an additional .' test. Road controlling authorities should continue to be responsible Ifor the issue of licenses. A recent statement by the Commissioner of Transport had caused on the possibility of a change of authority. SYSTEMS OF RATING.

While it was true that generally the rating on annual value was not used for rating purposes in comities, there were exceptions, said Mr (Rodman. In some instances county councils had installed high-pressure water supply systems in country townships, and the application of the relative provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act sometimes created hardship, owing to the variation in the values of dwellings and the limited number of dwellings in the rating area. In a residential area under the present system of rating, one property worth' £I,OOO might pay twice as much for the same water service as a property worth £SOO. The provisions of the Counties Act might ho modified to apply to a domestic supply scheme in , county areas, which provided for a graduated tax on rateable property, or, alternatively, n meter charge. The major objection to

the alternative legislation was the installation and administration costs. The Otago Counties' Association submitted that the legislation should be amended to permit a county council to levy a water charge on a uniform scale, which might vary according to the number of rooms or bedrooms in each dwelling.