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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3909, 8 May 1877, Page 3

The system pursued in deducting from the subsidies to municipalities and counties, in order to meet in part the cost of hosjiitals and charitable institutions, is creating a good deal of dissatisfaction. The mode adopted by the Government is to make the deduction proportionate to the subsidy, and thus it comes about that those bodies which raise the most rates — and which, therefore, are entitled to the largest subsidies — are made to contribute higher sums towards hospitals and charitable institutions than the local bodies that impose low rates. ' ' This standard of comparison," observes the Christchurch Press, ' ' is not fair to the boroughs, since the rating in a municipality is always higher than in a country district. And it may even lead to a great injustice. For, where the Counties Act is not in force, and where consequently the surplus land revenue is distributed among the road boards, it may happen that the road boards are so largely in funds as not to need to levy rates at all. There are several already which have not found it necessary to rate themselves." The result in such cases is to throw upon the municipalities a larger share of the expenditure for charitable purposes, because the proportion is taken as between the total sum of charitable expenditure for the district and the total sum of subsidies. The principle on which the deductions are made is, to say the least, highly unsatisfactory, and anything but calculated to distribute fairly over a district the cost of maintaining charitable institutions.