“A NEW ANGLE”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2663, 30 August 1937, Page 5

“A NEW ANGLE”

AMALGAMATION ISSUE THE FIVE COUNTIES REGIONAL PLANNING IDEA COROMANDEL CLERK’S VIEW. Local body amalgamation is dealt with very fully and from a new angle in the following article contributed by the clerk to the Coromandel County Council, Mr J. H. Lucas, to the Coromandel and Mercury Bay Gazette. As the Ohinemuri and Hauraki Plains County Councils are both affected by the proposal recently submitted by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr W. E. Parry, and as the subject matter is treated from the point of view of regional planning, the article is reprinted for the information of the Ohinemuri and Hauraki Plains ratepayers. “In the proposals set before the county by the Minister’ of Internal Affairs we have just the idea set out that the five counties namely, Coromandel, Hauraki Plains, Ohinemuri, Piako and Thames, be formed into one county and the Minister has introduced a Bill called the Local Government (Amalgamation Schemes) Act. Machinery Clauses. “The Bill itself, as the Minister explains, simply provides the machinery for carrying into effect, by the shortest means possible, a scheme which it is considered will make better units of local government and thereby be a benefit to the people concerned. The Bill enables almost any sort of merger to be arranged and section 5 gives the right to any ’ two or more local authorities to prepare and submit to the Minister an amalgamation scheme. The next section then goes on to give the Minister the power to prepare a scheme if the local authorities fail to do so within a specified time. “Now as to the application of the Bill in this district and various comments, press reports, etc., that have been made: I, as county clerk, went to hear the Minister at Paeroa to learn what would be the suggested amalgamation for this corner of New Zealand'; until I heard the Minister I had no idea that his plans would be the merging of the five counties into one. I was very interested in hearing Mr Parry, and apart from a question or two, there was really nothing else to do. The Minister suggested the five in one, and to summarise, he said, ‘now get together and see how you can work out the idea.’ Town Planning Act. “At the last county meeting I ventured to suggest that the whole problem could be worked out, or at least the commencement of it, through the ideas, shall we say, that are contained in the Town Planning Act. Section 6 of part 11. of the amendment act of 1929, sub clause 2, reads as follows : “ ‘Every such regional planning scheme shall have for its general purpose the conservation and economic development of the natural resources of the region to which it relates, by means of the classification of the lands comprised therein, for the purposes for which they are best suited by nature, or for which they can best be adapted, and by the co-ordination

of all such public improvements, utilities, services, and amenities as are not limited by the boundaries of the district of any one local authority, or do not relate exclusively to the development of any such district.’ “It seems to me that particularly as ‘community of interest’ seems to loom so largely in these matters, that without regard to any existing artificial lines drawn through a map that we at present term boundaries, it would be preferable to determine the community of interest by following along the lines of regional planning,as suggested in the clause of the Act quoted above. “Community of Interest.” “If, now, these five counties that have been cited could agree to get a regional planning scheme prepared, it would embrace a wonderful lot of information and would definitely settle the first hurdle, community of interest. When this community of interest is fixed, then it would show quite clearly where boundary lines could be most equitably fixed. “Then the line of approach would be financial. This heading would have to be approached with caution, the net indebtedness on account of loans as at March 31, 1935, being : ' Coromandel £14,335 Hauraki Plains £183,070 Ohinemuri £10,874 Piako — £255,435 Thames - £77,0t>0 Total £540,714 “The capital rateable value of these counties amounts to £8,401,544, therefore the indebtedness equals about 6.4

per cent, of the capital value. Now, individually, the various counties’ ioan indebtedness as compared with capital rateable value is approximately : Coromandel 2.4 per cent., Hauraki Plains 8.9 per cent., Ohinemuri 1.5 per cent., Piako 5.8 per cent., Thames 11.9 per cent. This little sum shows how widely different these local bodies have managed their affairs. To come to agreement on this question of finance is not going to be an easy matter and the Minister has wisely left it to the local bodies to sort up. The Counties Act. “We were informed that the present Counties Act would be the basis and statute to govern the amalgamated or new county; then the question of representation comes in. The. Amendment Act of 1925 gives the GovernorGeneral power to divide the county into such number of ridings as he thinks fit and fix number of members to be elected. Section 11. of the 1920 Act provides for a maximum of 12 ridings, section 58 states there shall be not less than six nor more than 12 councillors, except in united counties, where the number may be equal to the number of ridings. “I have been connected with local body work for a good number of years now and have seriously considered the problems that have come forward which might be connected with the scheme of amalgamation and can agree with the Minister when he says that so much has been written, printed, and spoken about local body reform, but yet so little done, and I feel also that the subject is not a party one. I, as a local body servant, do not indulge in party politics, because I consider my duty requires that my time is to be given to all equally. Therefore I feel quite justified in suggesting that the method of approach I would have liked to have seen carried out would be along the lines of regional planning. Compulsion ,in Planning. “We have only to look over almost any town in any part of the country and see what enormous expense the present generation is put to, as also will be the case with future generations, by inadequate or no planning. If some amendment could have been brought forward to bring some compulsion in to the town and regional planning, I feel it would have started at the right place, and until the planning’ is done, and the community of interest established, then any amalgamation scheme is likely to come to grief or to cause undue hardship in some quarters. “I am not prepared to say amalgamation is good or bad at present, but I do say that it will be very difficult to establish community of interest between Cape Colville and, say, Morrinsville; if it can be, then why not go right to the Hamilton borough boundary ? . “I read one extract the other day which suggested ‘that the ideal size for a modern county was one accessible in every part by motor car in a day.’ This seems to me to be quite a good way to determine size apart from square miles; it would take into consideration the nature of the county and the state of the roads, and what is more, it provides that elasticity which would be helpful in arriving at a workably sized area.”