NEED FOR REFORM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23202, 28 May 1937, Page 10

NEED FOR REFORM

LOCAL BODY REORGANISATION " CANNOT BE LONGER DELAYED " MINISTER REPLIES TO OPPOSITION (Per United Press Association > WELLINGTON, May 27. "As long as local body amalgamation remained in the realm of academic discussion, everybody agreed as to the necessity of pushing on with the job," said the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr W. E. Parry) in an address this evening to the Institute of Public Administration. " But when the question is faced and attempts are made to proceed with the work, all sorts of excuses are made to defeat progress, notwithstanding the fact that practically every newspaper and every local body has within the last 12 months agreed that reform is necessary. Yet, when applied to its own area, almost every local body has suggested that there is no need to alter the status quo so far as its area is concerned. "I submit that New Zealand has reached the time when reorganisation cannot be longer delayed," the Minister continued. "It is suggested in some quarters that there already exists in the Statutes governing the various types of local authorities provisions to enable such reorganisation to take place, and that, therefore, any interference is unwarranted. Every section of the community has admitted the need for reform, and yet that reform has not taken place. This of itself is sufficient to prove that the present provisions are unsuitable for the purpose of,national reorganisation. " When my programme has been carried out," the Minister concluded, "New Zealand will have a system of local government second to none in the world. There is no doubt that that will be the result."