CONDEMNATION OF GRANTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIV, Issue 16193, 20 March 1913, Page 8

CONDEMNATION OF GRANTS.

GOVERNMENT’S PROBABLE ALTERNATIVE.

THE NEW SOUTH WALES SYSTEM. [Frou Our Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, Alarch 19.

The round condemnation of specific grants to local bodies uttered by the Minister of Public Works at Kaikohe, coupled with the visit of the Assist)--t Under-Secretary of the Public’Tv oi ™-

Department to New South Wales, afford a 'fair indication of the lines favoured by the Government in re-model-ling the system of grants to local bodies in the dominion.

Mr Short, the Public Works officer •who was deputed to investigate the New South Wales system, has been several weeks at his task, and will not leave for. New Zealand until- the first week in April. / His inquiriei are being made with. thoroughness,' the system of allocations from the Consolidated Fund to local bodies being examined not only from the viewpoint of the State officers, hut also from that of the local authorities. The method followed in New South Wales is to distribute what are called endowments to shires or counties, which are classified every third year, the position being determined aocordSng to the extent of the shire, the probable revenue from a penny in the £ rates, the necessary expenditure and the public works to be constructed and maintained. The annual payments are made on the basis of the amount of general rate collected in the preceding year. The shires are classed under six groups, entitling them to a subsidy ranging from 16s up to £2 on each £1 of general rate.