A WELCOME GESTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1933, Page 6

A WELCOME GESTURE.

The action of six local authorities operating in the Wairoa area in seeking to bring about amalgamation and thereby reduce overhead expenses has much to commend it. It is nearly three years since the Prime Minister gave an assurance that the local government system must be overhauled, and since then the necessity for diverting much of the revenue received through the petrol tax from reading purposes to the general funds of the Dominion has made the question of rating in rural districts more acute than ever. It may be that the example of the Wairoa authorities may show the way in which improvement in the local government system can best be accomplished. It has been assumed that an inquiry would be set up by the State and upon the information so obtained a new plan would be framed. But, after all, local authorities now functioning in any districts should be better aware than any outside authority of the conditions requiring adjustment, the overlapping, if any, that is occurring, and the possibilities of reducing expenditure, and therefore the burden of the ratepayers. Regional reforms might pave the way for a Dominion-wide system and do so with more thoroughness and less likelihood of causing hardship than a system enforced all over the country by‘ Act of Parliament. In some districts co-ordination already exists, and amalgamation of existing authorities might be a doubtful blessing. In others there is room for considerable improvement, but even there reorganisation would have a much better chance of success if it came from within. The experiment at Wairoa will be watched with much interest by the whole Dominion. On the other hand it is to be hoped that it will not be made the occasion for a further postponement of the matter by the Government. Voluntary improvement can be heartily welcomed, but whether voluntary or not, reorganisation is overdue.