MUNICIPAL, CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19676, 30 June 1927, Page 6

MUNICIPAL, CONTROL

GOVERNING A GREAT CITY. A LOflD MAYOR'S EXPERIENCE MANCHESTER CORPORATION. (COMPARISON WITH AUCKLAND. BT T. BLOOD WORTH. Seventy-five years ago Manchester had a population of 400.000, of whom it is stated 350.000 were housed in wretched, damp, and filthy cottages. In 1926 Manchester had a population of 750,000 and comprised an area of 21,690 acres. It is surrounded by the following boroughs: north-west, Salford, population, 240,000; north-east, Oidham, 145,000; south-east, Stockport, population, 125,000; south and west, a number of urban and run! districts, of which Stretford, with a population of 44,000, is the largest. Manchester's municipal affairs are managed hy a City Council of 140 members which meets onco in each month, and the- meetings last only three or four hours at most. The real work of the council is done by twenty standing committees and about twenty special committees. That there has been much improvement in living conditions in Manchester in recent times is shown by the fact that during the last fifty years the death rato has been exactly halved. Some of that improvement has been due to the manner in which the City Council of Manchester has carried out its work. How that council is organised, what it does, how it does it, is part of the story told by Mr. E. D. Simon, in his book, "A City Council From Within." Mr. Simon has been for many years a member of the Manchester City Council, and for one year, 1922, was Lord Mayor. He appears to be ono of those comparatively rare persons who not only gives his time, and a lot of it, to municipal work, but also takes an interest in the work for the work's sake. His book is well written and intensely interesting. Professor Graham Wallas, who writes a preface to the book, says of Mr. Simon: "He has been able, week by week, to comparß his work on the council with his work as one of the directors of great industrial concerns who look upon industrial organisation as itself a form of public service; and ~ that fact has enabled him to see the essentials as well as the details of municipal administration -—the wood as well as the trees." And in the book we get an outline of the essentials as well as some of the details. Manchester Civic Square. Methods of administration appear lo be similar in Manchester to what wo are accustomed to here, and in some respects there is a striking similarity in results, for instance we read: "As regards the art gallery and libraries . . . there has been talk of building an art gallery on the notorious Piccadilly site for twenty-five years, and the council has vacillated in a most deplorable manner, with the result that the jsite is still an eyesore and that members of the council cannot but feel ashamed every time they pass it . upon one excuse or another we have been forced to carry on with our inadequate art gallery, and with our valuable books i». a quite unsuitable temporary structure." That paragraph fits almost exactly into cur Auckland position; the difference being one of time only; our site, or one that was suggested, has not been an eyesore, or shall we say the kind of eyesore it is now, for twenty-five years. Greater Manchester. Reference is also made in the book to a Greater Manchester movement, a movement toward amalgamation with other boroughs. "If Salford and Stretford were absorbed the whole amalgamated city, with a population of just over one million, would still be within a radius of five miles from the Manchester Town Hall, and many miles of services would be much more easily managed than now." But there are difficulties. Local feeling, separate identities demand consideration in these parts as here, but if the names in the following paragraph are altered it, too, seems to fit local conditions "Stretford is nothing but a Manchester suburb evading its fair share of the responsibilities of paying for the management of the city, and quite naturally Stretford enjoys this privileged position, arid is determined not to be forced into amalgamation with Manchester or Salford if it can possibly avoid it." It appears, however, that there, as here, the need for the provision of regional services as well as purely local ones will compel changes, and the writer seems to indicate that the change needed is one of function rather than area, and that regional services should be controlled by a regional body, leaving district services in the control of existing bodies. Manchester has also its town-planning problems, which could not be settled byManchester alone. Over ninety local authorities within a fifteen-mile radius of Manchester Town Hall had to be considered, and they met in conference, an advisory committee was established, and all the ninety-six local authorities agreed to a voluntary levy "not to exceed the product of a rate of one-tenth of a penny, which for Manchester alone amounted to £2500 per annum." This fund enables the advisory committee to employ the necessary staff and carry on tome of the work of preparing townplanning in that important area. Municipal Law.

Local government in Britain does not appear to have developed to any given plan; it has just happened. There is, of course, a general lkw, or rather several such, but in addition Manchester has ebout 60 special Acts. It has powers which other cities have not, other cities have powers which Manchester has not got. The writer seems to regard that as the best way of securing the best, for when the same powers have been granted to several cities and proved to be for the good then Parliament will enact a general measure based on the general experience. While seemingly approving of that, the writer makes several references to Germany, Where matters aro arranged differently. "The beauty of the average German town, even the modern industrial town, as against the planless ugliness of most English towns, is undoubtedly largely due to the care and thought given to development in Germany by the burgomaster and magistrat, as against the complete apathy of the town councils here." But in Germany the burgomaster Is a man specially trained for the work, and he is elected for ten or twelve years. He may therefore, and in many cases does, take long views, and his success or otherwise will be measured by the development ho initiates and carries through and not by the number of tea or garden parties he gives or the number of eports meetings be attends. Municipal Committees. The work of the various committees of the council is explained, as also are some of the difficulties which committees have to meet in getting their recommendations approved by the council. Here again incidents aro recorded which t-o anyone used to local bodv work here will seem to bo almost familiar, and to others will be somewhat surprising. There are many interesting matttS - 0 k°°k> and one is glad to be Bole by its help to compare municipal matters in New Zealand with the affairs PI s, really great city such as Manchester.