LOCAL BODY MEMBERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21916, 27 September 1934, Page 13

LOCAL BODY MEMBERS

CONTRACTING EIGHTS DEFINING UNIFORM BASIS BILL TO BE INTRODUCED [BT TELEGRAPH SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Wednesday The rights of members of local bodies to enter into small contracts with their own local bodies are to be placed on a regular basis by the Local Authorities (Members' Contracts) Bill, The Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Internal Affairs, gave notice in the House of Representatives to-day of his intention to introduce the bill.

At present there are a number of varying provisions in different local government Acts dealing with this question. Some Acts definitely prohibit such contracting, while others allow contracting for small amounts, these amounts varying with the Acts. The present position, therefore, is regarded as generally unsatisfactory.

The purpose of the pending bill is to bring all local authorities under one set of conditions. The standard to be adopted is substantially that now contained in the Municipal Corporations Act, 1933, which is regarded as the most up-to-date Act on the subject Impossible in Practice The General Statute dealing explicitly with contracting, the Public Contracts and Local Bodies Contractors Act, 1908, applies to road boards, town boards, river boards, drainage boards, education boards, national park boards and domain boards. It prohibits a local body member from contracting with his local body for the supply of goods or the performance of any work. It was found, however, that such restriction was quite impossible in practice in the case of the major local authorities. Accordingly the tendency arose to contract out of the Act certain types of local bodies and to make special provisions for them.

The ultimate result was that many special Acts contained their own disqualification provisions, which wero marked by a total lack of uniformity This had made it very difficult to administer satisfactorily the provisions of these Acts. Instances had arisen where members had unwittingly disqualified themselves through entering into contracts for too large an amount with one of the local authorities with which they were connected, although similar contracting with another local body had not carried a corresponding disqualification. A General Application The new bill, it is understood, will applv to all local authorities, the members of which are at. present governed bv contracting restrictions of any nature. Members will be restricted from entering into contracts with local authorities beyond the following limitations: —(1) £lO for a single contract; (2) £25 altogether in any financial vear; (3) £SO in any financial year if first authorised to that extent by the Audit Office. Contracting in respect of any of the following matters shall not disqualify a member: —(a) An interest in any loan raised by the local authority; (b) an interest in any newspaper in which the local authority inserts advertisements; (c) an interest in any lease granted by the local authority. It is understood that any local authority member who contracts beyond these limits will automatically vacate office and remain disqualified until the next election. In addition, a local authority will be prohibited from making any payments under a disqualifying contract of this nature, and will be given the right to recover any moneys so paid. DAIRY FACTORIES CHANGE TO STEAM POWER EXPLANATION BY MINISTER [by telegraph— special reporter! WELLINGTON. Wednesday The reason why certain dairy factories in the Waikato are changing over to power generated by steam instead of electricity was outlined by the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. J. Bitchener, in the House of Representatives vesterdav. " As the particular factories in question used considerable quantities of steam for process purposes, and as tbev had certain connections with coalmining interests, it might be possible to show that it was not economical for them to me power generated in the Government stations," said the Mims- " I am in agreement with the representatives of power boards, who discussed the matter with me. in considering that it was not a matter in which special arrangements should be made. The power boards were set up for the sj)ccific purpose of distributing power in the area, and the Government, as the wholesale distributor, did not wish to interfere in the arrangements made between the distributing authorities and the actual consumers.