LOCAL BODY AMALGAMATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 June 1937, Page 3

LOCAL BODY AMALGAMATION

CONFERENCE AT WHANGAREI MINISTER OUTLINES PROVISIONS OF BILL I Ify Telegraph hrea deeo-N.;,i' WHANGAREI, 23rd June. Whangarei to-day was the centre of a parliament of local bodies assembled to discuss the Hon. W. E, Parry's proposals for local body amalgamation. Practically all Northland’s thirty-two local bodies were represented, Mr Parry outlined the general provisions of the Bill, which he said was a good one because it had practically escaped criticism. He had found most of the local bodies agreed on the principle, but had failed to find one that favoured the scheme when applied to itself. Reconstruction was necessary to meet modern conditions and require-

ments. “It has been said that 1 am a Mussolini and a Hitler,” Mr Parry said, “but that Is a mentally iazy way of disposing of another man’s arguments.” It

was a matter of indifference what Minister or what party tackled the problem so long as a practical solution was reached and the drift of the past forty years halted. Mr Parry then dealt with the scheme prepared for the north by Mr H. C. Hemphill, secretary of the North Auckland Counties’ Association. Paying a tribute to the author, lie said it was one of the best schemes hq had studied to date. Dealing with the problem in the north, one had to dissociate his mind from the old idea that the north was an isolated and unnecessary part of the Dominion. That idea had prevailed too long. The north was rapidly developing, and was one of the most important farming areas of the Dominion with just claims for regarding itself as vital to the prosperity of the country.