ABOLITION OF PROVINCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4884, 16 November 1876, Page 6

ABOLITION OF PROVINCES.

The Government does not apparently lose any time in setting the machinery to work by which the needful changes in our institutions are to be efl:ected. The folowing circular has been addressed by the Under-Secretary to the Chairmen of Road Boards throughout the colony. Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, November C, 1876. _r am directed by the Colonial Secretary to fomarf to yin tho following Acts which have been Sed in the session of Parliament recently conclutledThe Bating Act. the Regulation of Local Elections Act, tho Public Works Act, and the financial Arrangements Act; and I am, at the same time, to c»U your attention to their more important provisions as affecting Road Boards and the inhabitants of the road districts. as TO THE RATING ACT. I You will perceive that by the 35th section it will not now be competent for a Road Board to make any rate for any period beyond the 31st of March next, exceot under tho present Act; although rates made before the passing of the Act for any period ending before or after that day, may bo recovered under the °*l! ordcr to make any rate after the 31st March, it will bo necessary for the Board to put In force the machinery of the new Act, the main object of which Is to establish a uniform system for the valuation of rateable .property throughout New Zealand, and a uniform system for making and recovering rates. The first step is to appoint valuers to make up tho valuation list of tho district; and as this list must bo ready by tho 15th of January, no time should .be lost in making the appointments. lam specially to call your attention to the provision contained in the 12th section, that a notice of the valuation of each property must be given to the ratepayer in the manner described in the 2nd section in reference to the serving of notices. ■ , .. , , ... 3, The valuation list being in the hands of the Board on the 15th January, Is to remain on view till the 15th of February; and public notice of the place where it may be seen must bo given once in each week during the month. „ _ ■ ~ . 4 It will be the duty of the Judge of the Assessment Court, who will shortly be appointed, to give proper notice of the time and place when and where the Court will sit to hear objections to the valuations; and it is open to the Board, by section 14, to object to any valuation, or, by section 15, to object to tho whole valuation list: but in the first case a copy of the objection must be served on the person affected thereby, and in tho second cose tho objection must be perceive that by the 23th section, if the Board fails to have a valuation list prepared, it be- . comes: the duty of tho Assessment Court to supply the Th? provisions of tho Act in respect to the making and recovery of rates call for no special rexnarlc. EJ UE3PECT TO TBB EBOULATIO2T OF XOCAL ELECTIONS ACT. Too will observe that this Act is to come into force, In respect to Road Board elections, only by the proclamation of the SGovernor, upon the request of at least two-thirds of the members of the Road Board, and after the ratepayers, assembled in public meeting have signified their approval of such step. It is, therefore, for the ratepayers themselves to consider whether they wish voting by ballot to be introduced in the Road Board elections in their district. THE PUBLIC WORKS ACT. , The filth part of this Act, which consolidates the law as regards roods, and the seventh part, which provides for drainage, are the parts which principally affect the powers and duties of Road Boards. By the 81st section all roads, which includes bridges, are in the first instance in charge of the Road Board, but the county or the Government may take under Its charge any road, and relieve the Road Board from the cost of maintenance; and in respect of county roads and Government roads, the duties of the Rood Board cease. . It is believed that this part of the Act vests m the Road Boards-full power to construct and maintain the highways, and, where they think fit, to establish *°Li'respect to drainage, the seventh part of the Act places'public drains primarily in charge of the conn-, ties, with a view to establishing a system of arterial drainage throughout the country: but the county may place any particular drains under the control of the Road Board ; and the Road Board may make and maintain any drains In connection with the general system of drainage, obtaining the consent of the County Council. You' wIU find full powers for stopping useless roads In tho ; Fifth Part; but the powers for obtaining land for the purpose of making new roads over private property are given by the second part of the Act. The Board having fulfilled the several conditions required by the clauses 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25, the Governor is empowered to take the land required absolutely ; but as he is not compelled to do so unless he thlnks’llt, an appeal virtually Is secured to the Governor in Council- by any one who may consider himself wronged by the action of the Board. The hmd being taken, the. Board becomes liable for any compensation which may be awarded by the Compensation Court constituted by Part HI. of this Act. The 1 f'sth section provides fer exchanges of land being made where a road is required to be altered; but but where no such exchange is needed, and where the Board desires to obtain land only if it can be acquired at a reasonable price, it is open to the Board to agree with the owner for the price which he will claim, and which ho will file in the Supreme Coart under the 3Sth section, and to which, if no answer is made under the 39th section, he will become entitled. It Is considered that this process, avoiding the necessity for all deeds or other legal proceedings, will be found simple and efficacious, and will supply the means hitherto provided by the legislation of the Provincial'Council in each case for enabling the road boards to extend and complete the road system of the country. Tho land taken for the new road becomes absolutely ested in the Grown under the 23th section; and the 26th section provides for the necessary registration of the change in the ownership of the soil without throwing any farther trouble on the Road Board. But - the Road - Board must understand that where any such land Is subject to various Interests, such as mortgage or other, it will be liable for all compensation which may bo awarded in the Compensation Court by persons possessing such interests, unless a previous arrangement has been made, so that their several claims may be filed without dispute. The 29th section provides for the disposal of land taken and not wanted: and the 94th section applies the same provisions to any old roads stopped.

THE ITKANCIAI. ARRANGEMENTS ACT, lam to call your special attention to the 32nd section of thin Act, by which the Hoad Board is debarred from receiving any subsidy under the Act, unless the returns specified therein are sent to the Colonial Treasurer at or before the proper time. The sum actually received In cash by way of ,general rates during each year ending on the 81st March is the sum oh which the subsidy payable during the year commencing on the Ist of July thereafter is to be calculated and paid. It will therefore be most convenient that tho financial year of all local bodies should end on the 31st March. The Board will then know exactly tho sum which it will be entitled to receive from the Government during the following year; and the Colonial Treasurer will know, from the returns to be f ornished before the Ist Of May, the exact sums for which he will have to make provision during the ensuing fins,nclal year. ■ • The return you are required to furnish on the Slat of next January will be one of the general rates actually received by the Board during the year ending on the 31st March, 1876, and will be tho basis of determining the subsidy for the six months ending on the 30th June, 1877. , . I believe I have noticed all the principal points to which it is necessary to call your attention ; and I am to express the hope of the Government that the several Acts now transmitted will enable the Koad Boards to fulfil the duties intrusted to them with in creased facility,—l am, &c..

G. S. Cooper. The business of Eoad Boards being to, deal with local works, the Public Works Act will be found to be not the least important of the four Acta forwarded with the circular. _ . •

Ibis, even with the so-called amendments which have been forced into it, a very complete Act, the drafting of which must have required great labor and care, seeing that it contains all the needful provisions, and appears to be a consolidation of no less than forty-two Ordinances and Acts of the Colonial Legislature, and some sixty-five provincial Acts and Ordinances, all relating in one or other form to public works.

There was no question which, in some of the provinces at least, gave more trouble or called for more frequent action on the part of Provincial Councils than that of opening up new roads and closing useless road lines. All this, as maybe seen, is provided for, and power is given to the Road Boards themselves to take the necessary action, and ‘ by a simple process to do all that is required, an appeal to the Governor-in-Cbuncil being left to those who may find or think themselves wronged or injured by the action of the Compensation Court or the Road Board. We understand that the work of dividing the counties constituted by the Counties Act is being proceeded with vigorously, and that it is probable that before the close of the year all the elections for County Councils may take place, and that the new year may see in operation the system of local self-government provided by the Legislature to succeed the provincial form of government. It is gratifying to note the fulfilment of a prophecy made by Mr, Reader Wood in his original character as a supporter of the abolition resolutions of 1874, ■ and to bo ablo to chronicle the fact that the great day abolition took effect, the day after the last day of the first session of the sixth Parliament of Now. Zealand, has passed, and.that, “nothing, has -happened?” Sir Geoeob Grey has retired to Kawau, under cover of a theatrical

demonstration of a mild diameter, and Mr. Macandeew, is seeking to retire from an absurd and ridiculous position under cover of a convention of all tbe talents. Beyond this, as Mr. Reader Wood assured us, “ nothing has happened.”