MAKING PROGRESS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22511, 15 December 1947, Page 4

MAKING PROGRESS

COMMISSION WORK LOCAL GOVERNMENT DOMINION PROBLEMS (S.R.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 15. The Local Government Commission in its first year of operation has made good progress with the problem of multiplicity of local bodies, and the overlapping of their functions in New Zealand. Parliament found itself unable to deal effectively with proposals for amalgamation, as local interests were hard , to reconcile. However, the commission, by taking evidence on the spot, has teen able to ascertain the facts more effectively than a select committee of the House of Representatives sitting in Wellington, and decisions have been made in every case within a fortnight of the local hearings. Only the fringe of the problem has been touched, however, and the commission has prepared a tentative programme of formidable limensions for next year. It will sit at Huntly on February 15 to consider boundary adjustments, and a few days later will investigate the case for establishing a borough at Otorohanga. Proposed Dissolution The proposed dissolution of the Man-awatu-Oroua River Board following the etablishment of a catchment area will be the subject of a hearing at Palmerston North commencing on February 25. The greater part of March will be occupied with problems in Hutt Valley, the most important being the proposal to form a catchment board for Wellington district. An inquiry will be opened at Whakatane on April 28 regarding the proposed creation of a catchment boara for Bay of Plenty, and the commission wnl also look into the adjustment of boundaries between the borough and Whakatane and Opotiki counties. Christchurch has a major problem for investigation, that of the expansion of the city boundaries to include surrounding boroughs, and also the question of including within the scope of the central authority the operations now carried on by the drainage board' and the transport board. This investi- l gation is to open on May 18. The establishment of a catchment district for the Waikato is to be the subject of a hearing at Hamilton, opening on June 9, and the commission plans to sit at Whangarei on June 28 to consider extensions of the borough boundary.