Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1883. LOCAL LOG-ROLLING.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6632, 21 August 1883, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1883. LOCAL LOG-ROLLING.

During the last few months there has \ i been a good deal of the, ''You -roll -my. j log-and-l'llroll-your's "^principle at work ] ■■ in idetejrmiriingvthe decifeiorisofitha Gbunty ] and^raveidiffiibulties may aris« .^ in the future if the tendency is not i oheeked. The objeot is to shuffle certain i

local roads to the shoulders of the Council, or at least to get large grants-in-aid for Roard Board works. The extent to which the Council should aid purely local worts has long been a vexed question in the Council, some members contending that each application should be considered on its merits, others that subsidies should be given under certain definite conditions, and others, again, thatthe Oouncil should give no such aid, confining its attention to county works. Until recently, however, any attempt to get the county to take over local roads or to mako grants-in-aid has been suspiciously watched, and motions with such objects in view have generally been defeated. But a few months ago a new system was inaugurated. It came about this way. Before Mr Sutton went to Wellington he supported a request from the Clive Road Board for a subsidy towards the formation of the Pakowhai-road. Into the merits or demerits of the application we are not going to enter, but Mr Dolbel considered the demerits outweighed the merits, and opposed the grant, urging that certain roads on the other side of the Puketapu hill were much more deserving of aid from the Council, as they were practically main roads, and beyond the means which the Road Boards had to keep them in order. Mr Sutton mildly "pitched into" those northern Boards, and accused them of not levying proper rates, saying that if they did so their means would be ample. But Mr Rymer followed on the same side as Mr Dolbel, and the meeting beiqg thinly attended, Mr Sutton began to scent defeat. He thereupon executed arapid re trogade movement, sympathised with Mr Dolbel, and, without definitely pledging himself, gave Mr Dolbel to understand he would heartily support a grant to the northern roads to which Mr Dolbel referred. On that Mr Dolbel voted for the grant for the Pako-whai-road. Since that time several other local grants have been made on the same lines. Indeed, Mr Kinross yesterday "let the oat out of the bag " in a very ingenuous way when, in proposing that the Council should take over the Pakowhai-Mangawhare-road, he claimed the support of other Councillors on the express ground that of late he had supported them in similar applications. Of course Mr Kinross succeeded. But these motions are getting rather curious. Each member seems to cast his eye round his district to see what he can find for the Council to do there, and hurries in his proposal, often without waiting to get sufficient data. , An instance of this was afforded yesterday, when Mr Dolbel moved that the Council take a road " from Patoka to the boundary of the Petane riding." The Chairman suggested that a little further definition would be an advantage — for instance, to what point was the road to go? Mr Dolbel replied to the boundary of the Petane riding. The Chairman again asked to what point on the boundary, but Mr Dolbel was then at a loss, and the motion was adjourned. We belive Mr Dolbel really wants only a link between Patoka and the present main road near Pohui. This is needed— we have not a word to say against it— but when such proposals are brought forward surely the Council has a right to expect all available information to accompany the motions. All this, however, is an indirect result of the "log-rolling" tactics indulged in of late, and where the new movement will atop is not very clear. If it does not stop soon the Council will become embarrassed. Hitherto the existing system of local government, despite its inherent faults, has been remarkably well administered in Hawke's Bay, but that has been greatly because the work of the County Council and of tbe Eoad Boards has been kept distinct, and, purely local works being left to the Road Boards, the funds of the County Council have been devoted solely to county works. If a large proportion of those funds is to be devoted to local roads the county road system must suffer, especially now that the Council's revenue is so materially j reduced owing to the withdrawal of the subsidies to local bodies. !