LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

Lyttelton Times, Volume C, Issue 11702, 5 October 1898, Page 4

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

The importance of local tions, and particularly of municipal is apparently at last impressing itrelf on; the minds of the people of the The opinions expressed by them'repraseata-i lives in Parliament the other night •were' unanimously on the side of progress. The Bill which was under discussion, the City Streets Bill, is one upon which, it is difficnlt to express a just opinion, v Ibappears' that in the Empire City there is an extew ordinary number of pcdvate-streetsyuid rights-.; of-way, end that the majority of these are conaHtecably underihe regulation widths MnuJi of them are blind alleys, and ai;large pm-| portion of them are in a highly? insanibnyj condition. The-situation of tbe-city hasmanci the construction of streets a matter ofrcoat-j sidarable difficulty, and little fault can be] found with the persons who werenresponsih&i in the earlier days for the narrowness of the! highway®. But it seems to bo. a practice* amongst property-owners when cutting upj blocks -or -erecting buildings on a -section- tei allow as small a proportion ,of the land as passable for means of access. Naturally a man who builds half a dozen houses in his! back-yard—by no means an uncommon hart 1 in W dlington—h as very little space to spare for a roadway. The attention of the Weffing-j ton City Council has been directed again and again .to these byways, and, recognising the difficulty of inducing the average.land-owner to attend to their repair and sanitation, the’ Corporation last year sought and obtained power to take over any private street of Iks than the regulation width. The-power was modified, however, by a provision that the streets acquired in this way should bo widened to sixty-six feet. That provision operates-at present as a prohibition, for the widening of any cnmfideraMe number of these streets would involve an expenditure quite beyond the present means of the Corporation.; Actuated, however, by a desire to put thehi power to good use at once, the City Fathers are taking steps towards raising:! a lam foi| this and other purposes.; but in the meantime it is a practical impassibility, unde® the existing law, to compel the owners-"of private streets to- keep them in a proper, safe and sanitary condition. The Council therefore promoted the Bill which was intro-j duesd this session, and which would have given l it power; to take over private streets unconditionally, and to continue and extend them at their present width. Thoeffect would have been the immediate improvement of all the byways of the city by their maintenance becoming the duty of the municipal author rit-ies. This is the statement of the case for the City Couficil, and we are quite pre-; pared to believe-that it has teen acting with the best intention, and with-a genuine desire to remove-one of the greatest reproaches-frami the capital city. NoGorporation in the colonjj has shown a more progressive spirit, and we have no doubt that its labours will result in a Imost decided improvement (in the (City surroundings during the next few years. On ' the other band, the passage of the Bill through the House would have been a distinct benefit to those persons whose propensity for acquisition, to use a-politer term .than greed,' has brought about the present voiy undesirable state of affairs. If it is true, as asserted; that the Council has offered neither let nor hindrance to infringements 'of the laws and by-laws affecting the laying out of streets and the construction of buildings, then tha case against the BilLis even stronger. In any care there is no ground on which to justify the request for authority to lay out streets of a less width than sixty-six feet in the extension* of the exiting narrow highways.! The power would be a wrong one to give to tha best-intentioned of Councils. We are,; therefore, not inclined to regret the fate which befel the measure on. Monday night.' The discussion which took place is, however,' of interest and importance as showing the trend of popular feeling on the subject of the conditions which should obtain in our crties.i The strong terms of condemnation .which were employed in reference to the “ slums ” of Wellington must be taken to indicate a grow-* ing sense of the necessity for light and ay? in all our towns and cities. Considering thal long-stagnation from which local government matters in the colony are just emerging, it is refreshing to find that there is an enthu-: slasm for progress being displayed. We only hope that those persons who have given vent) to their opinion of Wellington will set themselves to a serions study of the vast amount of evidence and information that* is now obtainable on the subject of local government reform, and will assist with all their power in placing the law dealing with'the subject in a satisfactory condition. There is no town! in the colony that would not be the better for a display oftheir energies m sonic pragtical direction. , 1