OVERHAUL NEEDED

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12084, 30 June 1932, Page 2

OVERHAUL NEEDED

LOCAL BODY SYSTEM. COMMISSION URGED. The passing of the affairs of the Thames borough into the hands of a commissioner appointed under a special act of Parliament is a danger .signal on th.e road of our present S 3 stem of local government (writes the Associated Chambers of Commerce). This instance of collapse m local administration, ought to be enough to show that the strain of national taxes and local rates combined is proving too great for citizens, who cannot prop up much longer the present lavish s.vstem of local government. Already more than a year has been lost since the Prime Minister promised the appointment of a commission to investigate the whole system of administration, without the action being taken. No one will doubt tlie good intentions of the Hon. A. Hamilton, Minister of Internal Affairs, who has been delegated to investigate the position, but for an inquiry of this kind the work must necessarily be placed in the bands of an independent body of men. The Prime Minister must have realised this when, he promised that a commission would be appointed. A tribunal that is going to make recommendations that must be unpalatable to many if tlie proper reforms in our system of local government are going to be carried into effect, must be in a position to survey the field independently and mark out plainly the course that needs to- be followed'. Enough has been written already' regarding the present state of overgovernment In local bodies in this country, and the cost entailed to ratepayers and taxpayers. - The local Government Loans Board is functioning as a very necessary check on the recklessness of many local bodies so far as new loan commitments are concerned, and the seriousness of the present position is being appreciated bv certain local bodies which are not only economising in their own administration, but are making reductions in rates. This is laudable work, but even if it became universal it could not, go as far as is necessary in the task of local government reform. What is needed is wholesale reorganisation of local bodies, the. elimination of overlapping, a co-ordination of functions and a revision of rating systems. The method of rating, method of franchise and method of distribution in, connection with power boards, in relation to the operations of other local bodies, is one field of inquiry that needs to be dealt with, while another matter is the taxation of local bodies trading in competition i itli private concerns dealing in s r Tar commodities—l reform that is i led to correct a glaring injust: - . Tlie urgency of the whole case justifies the immediate appointment of