LOCAL BODIES’ GROWTH

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 3

LOCAL BODIES’ GROWTH

TOO MANY AUTHORITIES REVISION OF SYSTEM URGED. OVERLAPPING AND WASTE. A general review of governmental activities, both State and local, is urged by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce in a bulletin prepared for it by the Department of Economics of Canterbury College. After reviewing the multiplicity of local authorities in New Zealand and the growth in their expenditure and indebtedness, the chamber urges a thorough investigation of the organisation and methods of administration.

After listing a total of 693 borough councils, county councils, town boards, road, boards, river boards, fire boards, harbour boards, hospital boards, electricpower boards and other local authorities, the bulletin states that the number of ■bodies and the complexity of their functions demonstrate the need for a review of the machinery of administration. “At present, while some functions fail to be discharged adequately, there are also many instances of overlapping, redundancy and waste,” it continues. “Each local authority has its own buildings, plant and. equipment, administrative staffs and employees. Each tends to act independently of others and, in consequence, the operations of local authorities are seldom co-ordinated.

LOANS WITHOUT SINKING FUNDS

“There are local bodies enjoying the right to spend large revenues for whose collection they are not responsible. There are others which have to act as collecting agencies for 'revenue whose expenditure they cannot control. There are loans for which’ inadequate or no sinking funds have been provided, while there are instances where sinking funds have been invested in projects which cannot earn interest or in securities which are not readily negotiable. There are cases where loans may be raised without adequate safeguards or without the consent of ratepayers,, and where the money may consequently be spent to meet political rather than sound economic ends.” During the period from 1914 to 1930 the population of the Dominion increased by 31 per cent., while the estimated value of national production increased about 83 per cent. During the same ■period, rates collected by local authorities were trebled. INCREASE IN 15 YEARS. From 1915 to. 1930 gross local body indebtedness increased from nearly £25,000,000 to more .than £71,000,000, the increase in the last 10 years being at the rate of £4,000,000 a year. 'While the total debt had almost trebled, the total loan charges had increased to a much greater degree. “It is now widely recognised that the national finances of the Dominion are in a critical state,” continues the bulletin. “The failure of revenue is a significant reflection of the decrease in the taxpayers’ ability to pay. It has been estimated that the national income is about 27 per cent. less , than it was in 1928-29. “Most of the contraction of national income has fallen on the taxable surplus and there the decline lias been muchmore than the decline in total income. The State has already felt the effects of this decline on its Budget. It cannot be expected that local authorities will escape. It must be anticipated that a failure in revenue, similar in nature, although perhaps less in degree, will be felt by local authorities, REDUCTION IN EXPENDITURE. “Under present circumstances, reduction in local body expenditure appears not only necessary, but inevitable. . A thorough overhaul of the whole organisation of local government is required. It should aim at securing the greatest simplicity and economy possible. The question is how best to secure order and economic efficiency in a field where administration is frequently overgrown, disordered and Wasteful. “This involves thorough investigation of the organisation and methods of administration, but the task is not essentially different from the reorganisation which has been forced on many businesses by similar conditions. They have had to determine afresh first, what activities they can best undertake and, secondly, by what means those activities are to be undertaken. “The first necessity is a general review of the whole field of governmental activities, both State and local. What the community needs is the best service at the lowest cost and the limitations of services to what it can afford. SIMPLER (SYSTEM ADVISABLE. “Where services can be provided most effectively by the Government, they should be provided in this, way, provided there are no countervailing considerations, and where services can be best provided by private enterprise the community would be best off if they were so provided. ' “It should be possible to devise a scheme of local government which would be simpler than that at present in force,” concludes the bulletin. “It should be one that aimed to give in every sphere the best service at the lowest cost, ■which would secure economy, efficiency and cooperation, which would avoid overlapping, duplication and waste, and which would at the same time give adequate control over the ratepayers’ money and preserve the necessary measure of local interest and local responsibility.”