TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, 1936. LOCAL BODY REFORM.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3829, 4 November 1936, Page 4

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th, 1936. LOCAL BODY REFORM.

GENERALLY, the Government is to be commended for initiating a national plan for local government reform, because this is one of the political hazards which for years has awaited the national administration. In the process, the biggest drawback will be parochialism, or establishment of a vested interest, which narrows to local bigotry. The need for reform may be generally recognised, but it seems one of the frailties of human nature to approve the abstract scheme and to resist it when practical application is attempted. For that reason, no doubt, past Governments have set ’the issue on one side, and for the same reason the present Government can be commended for the boldness of its announced intention. The Local Government ( Amalgamation Schemes) Bill made its appearance in the dying hours of the session, but enough was disclosed of the intention to inspire consideration during the recess. The ideal is encouraged for voluntary amalgamations; but if they are not forthcoming, it is clear that machinery will be set in motion to apply constitutional methods for compulsion. The scope, as explained by the Minister, reaches to counties, boroughs and town districts, and to “the abolition of the smaller authorities." Under the latter heading the range seems almost limitless, and it is very desirable that the Minister should give a more definite index of the Government’s ideas on the subject. What with Drainage Boards and Rabbit Boards, Special Rating Areas and Riding Loan Accounts, a somewhat tangled network has developed around the idea of major self-government. Does the Minister propose to merge all of these separated bodies until he secures a county scheme which embraces a series of departments? And, if so, can he offer guarantee that efficiency shall not be impaired? It has to be remembered that these many and varied specialist Boards were the product of necessity—that a centralised county administration could not provide the machinery for collective action in a purely localised field. This the Minister acknowledges when he speaks of the real difficulty as being “the failure of those concerned to take a national conception of local authority government.” The meaning is plain. The modern development in transport alone has broken down riding and county boundaries, and communication has enlarged itself with a marked effect on popular habits. Virtually Mr Parry says that the human factor is lacking in that administrative capacity has not kept pace with the expanding conditions. If, then, that is the case, how can he hope for satisfaction when he seeks to further enlarge the scope of activity by processes of amalgamation? It seems that a good deal remains for Mr Parry himself to correct. There is cause and need for considerable overhaul of the law itself, the removal of many narrowing restrictions on members of local bodies, and a general recall of much which past law has imposed. Outstanding in this regard is the removal of the trading restriction which places a ban on men who could be trusted to serve well in local government, but who have been declared ineligible for office. Having ventured so far, the Government should go further 4and overhaul the many pettifogging limitations which have worked unfavourably and contributed largely to the defects which it is now hoped to cure. These laws rest with the Government, and the unfortunate local bodies who are now in the spotlight are more sinned against than sinning. “The sole aim,” Mr Parry has said, “is to promote efficiency”—and that traces directly to the Government itself. For after all, local bodies are regulated by statute, and the basis for all reform will be found more in Parliament than out of it. Because, in the end, amalgamation is only a first step; the real desire for efficiency can only be secured when the law does not debar sound administrators, and, also, does not unreasonably shackle them to unduly restrictive codes.