The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1893.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 9878, 13 December 1893, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1893.

The task before the Taranaki County Council is no light one, and it will tax tlie ingenuity and ability of members to the utmost to find a way out of tho difficulties in which County affairs have become involved. Matters have been drifting from bad to worse ; the Council's overdraft has year by year been creeping up; bridges have been decajiag, and roads wearing out ; whilst the revenue has been expended largely on works of a more or less patchwork or temporary character, thus staving off the evil day, which has at last come, when the situation has to be faced and a severe remedy applied. The duty to which the new Council has been called is no ordinary one, and ratepayers will need to extend their sympathy and assistance to tho members in instituting and carrying out whatever reforms may be necessary to place matters on a more satisfactory footing, "What those reforms may be has, of courso, yet to be decided, but we would deprecate any; radical change being made without very careful consideration of their probable effect. We would not, for instance, care to see the " Counties Act " suspended, as was suggested the other day in our correspondence columns by Mr S. Rundle, although such a change would undoubtedly effect considerable saving in administrative expenses on account of there" being but one executive in place of two, in charge of the roads in the district.. There are various reasons why a change in that direction is undesirable at the : present jnncture. In the first place, the county system should not yet be condemned and discarded for this reason, that past failure has been* due chiefly to causes which would be found to apply equally to the Road Board or any other system, namely, lack of funds and faulty administration. A change in the executive will, it is hoped, remedy the lattor, but for the former ire fear there is nothing for it but for ratepayers to dip their hands more deeply into their pockets, j Another reason why the presont tinie is inopportune for such a change is, that the Premier has intimated that, tho question of local government will receive the early attention of the Ministry, and it would be manifestly better to wait and see what direction Mr Seddon's proposals may take. This matter of local government is of infinitely more importance to us than Imperial Federation and suph like fads, and we hope to see it ! occupy a large share of "public attention, j For the present, however, we are more particularly concerned with the position of the Taranaki County Council, a matter which demands much earnest consideration on tho part of the Council, J anJ it is , our desire, by offering suggestions, which we trust will be taken in the spirit in which they-are given, to assist as far as may be, in establishing a sounder state of things'. To begin j with, we should liko to sec, a full detailed report, by the most competent j engineer available, on tho present oqu t j dition of the whole of the county roads ! and bridges, showing what, is most urgently required to be done' and at what probable cost. Po3sibly the Government might be prevailed upon, through the member for the district, to send a road surveyor to furnish such a report. Similar applications from other lpcal todies have been acceded to before now. With the information such a report as indicated would provide, the committee of the Council appointed to go ipto the question of ways and means would have something definito to go upon, would know approximately what amount of money it is necessary that they ! should provide j and they would then \ have to formulate a scheme of finance. ! Herein lic3 the chief difficulty, but we havo litUe doubt that the ratepayers will come to tho assistance of tho Council, provided always that they are satisfied that their monoy is to be judiciously expended. They must havo good roads, and good roads aro not to be had without being paid for. Whether tho money required is to bo obtained by a special rate or by a loan remains to be seen, and will depend largely upon the amount absolutely necessary to keep the mnin roads oppn. That should be the first question settled, and np time shquld be lost, for one pound spent now on road work will go a? far as two pounis after the dry season is over, and it is of the \ utmost importance that the roads should j be kept open for traffic all the year round. Having got these natters into fair working order, the Council might then turn its attention to the broad question of local government. That the present system, as applied in the Taranaki County, is far from perfect must be admitted ; there are far too many nniall Koad Boards, wbo^o duties might well be discharged by the County. Tho question, however, is a large one, and must be loft to some future occasion. In the meantime, we would urge I upon Councillors to sink all local feeling i and prejudice, and to work together for tho common weal of the County as ft whole, ' j