LOCAL GOVERNMENT BY COMMISSION

Southland Times, Issue 16843, 20 September 1911, Page 3

LOCAL GOVERNMENT BY COMMISSION

A scheme of local government by means of commissioners, instead of councillors and aldermen, which presents features well worthy of cousidei atiou in Australia, is at present arousing much attention in the eastern States ot America. The commission plan is hy no means new, for it has been in loice in tho city of Washington since the early seventies, but it is only i-ecentl} that it has made its way from the .south and west and invaded the stronghold of conservatism in New Jersey. P\\o neighbouring cities, Trenton and Bayonne, have adopted the scheme, with the result that the subject is being discussed with interest in New York, the home of Tammany Hall. The commission form of go\ ornment substitutes foi a mayor and board of aldermen a commission of, say, live men, elected by tne people just as they would elect aldermen. Each of the five take's over the special supervision of some department of administration, such as the police, the fire department, or water supply. The commission having been elected, it chooses a mayor, hut ho is simply the chairman of the board, with little more privilege than the right to call IHo commissioners 'to order when they infringe the rules of debate. The genesis of the commission plan, as has been mentioned, was the decision in the case of Washington to depart from the time honoured way of governing American cities. Since statesmen from various parts of the country had to go to Washington, and did not wish to be exposed to the caprices of a local administration, they changed the form of government to one in which there was no mayor and no board of aldermen, but three commissioners appointed by the President. One of these, it was provided, must be an engineer officer of the army. This is Washington’s form of government to-day, and by general consent in America the federal capital is the best governed city In the United States. It was not until ten years ago that the Washington plan, with an important modification, was adopted by Galveston, in Texas. Galveston, wrecked both physically and financially by a tidal wave, placed the herculean task of reconstructing its streets, buildings and finances in the hands of a commission of five men, appointed In the first instance by the Governor of the State, ) hut subsequently It was decided that the commissioners should be elected, and the municipal responsibilities were divided among them tn a very definite I way. The Galveston scheme had heett in operation for four years before the town of Houston was attracted enough ,to follow live example, Itt 1907 five other Texas cities placed their governI merit in the hands of commissions. Since then laws permitting the adoption of the scheme have been passed hy the legislatures of lowa, Kansas and the two Hakatos (1907), Mississippi (1908), Minnesota and Wisconsin (1909), and Illinois (1910). A? recently as June last, Trenton, a State capital, by a majority of 1900 votes, decided to “abandon the wasteful. Irresponsible and unsatisfactory system of aldermanic and mayoral government, and give the commission plan a trial.” The words quoted Are from the Trenton “Times.”

According to a recent article in the “Municipal Journal and Engineer” as many as 111 cities and towns in the United States have adopted the commission form of government, and the number is being added to every month. In about half the cities the board contains five members, while three also is a common number. Five cities have four commissioners, but up to nine are found in some of the larger centres. The general idea is to focus popular attention before election, and concentrate responsibility afterward, In as small a number -as possible. Another advantage of smallness of number is the probability of more prompt transaction of business. Still another is tho possibility of paying salaries adequate to secure competent men. It is claimed that under the Galveston plan the beautification of cities has become practicable, and that towns which wer6 notoriously ugly under the old system have become handsome under the new method of government. In addition, the advocates of the commission scheme claim that tax rates have been reduced, and that life has become in every way more livable. The essential element which accounts for the success thus far achieved is the conspicuous responsibility—and hence accountability to the people—of all elected and salaried officials. The most apparent danger inherent in this form of government is the possibility that the great powers conferred upon these few officials may be used for selfish ends, and against the interests of the people, or at least in a grossly arbitrary way. To guard against this many Slates and cities have adopted the “recall,” by which an official can be removed from office by popular vote. The initiative has been adopted by still more cities, and tho referendum by all but a few of the Californian and Texas cities. But perhaps the most important reform attributed to the commission system is the development of the sense of service on the part of the commissioners, and a corresponding awakening of the civic spirit among the people—a feeling of personal concern in the public good, which, it i.s to be feared, is just as much in need of being quickened in Australia as in America. ______________