MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15707, 8 March 1913, Page 8

MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION.

The Minister of Customs has been giving expression at Auckland to views which, though they have been ridiculed by the Mayor of that city, are undoubtedly entertained by many business men in the dominion. There is no particular reason ■why the Mayor of Auckland should be quite so sensitive as he evidently is in respect to criticism of methods >of municipal administration which-have no particular claim to be regarded as ideal. Blunders on the part of the elected representatives of the public on local bodies aro so frequent that instances of them will be recalled by every person who takes an intelligent interest in the administration of local affairs. The reasonable assumption is that if every department of public activity were placed under the control of an expert official, w.ho was made responsible for its successful management, some at least of these mistakes would be avoided and a good deal of public money that is now wasted

would be saved. It is, however, a counsel of perfection that Mr Fisher is preaching, as he is probably quite well aware. British people have a habit, which is to their credit in many ways, of insisting on having the management of their own affairs, even though they may have to pay for the privilege in the long run, and he would be a bold man who wouldassert that they will ever be prevailed: upon to part with the rights which they enjoy. The public would not be likely to regard with equanimity any proposal to deprive it of its present prerogative in relation to municipal control, however strong might be the evidence that such a step would be to its benefit. The system now in vogue so far as municipal and other local bodies are concerned is probably the system which, even though it may be subject to modification, will continue to obtain, and, if the results should sometimes seem unsatisfactory, this is at least in a considerable measure due to the fact that the best use is not made of it. In order that this reproach may be removed it is necessary in the first place that the publio should be careful to select as its representatives only the ablest and most tried of those who offer themselves for election, and in the second place that the local bodies should offer salaries calculated to attract the best men available to the positions of managers of the various important services under their control, and that they should not interfere unduly with the exercise by these officials of their discretion. It should be enough for the local bodies to lay down the broad lines of policy to be pursued in the public interest, and it should be left to the managers who should be experts in their own particular businesses and worthy of the trust reposed in them to carry that policy into practice.