THE WAIOTAHI FEVER CASE.

Thames Advertiser, Volume IX, Issue 2313, 28 March 1876, Page 3

THE WAIOTAHI FEVER CASE.

To tho Editor of the TuAMKS ADYEiraSEB. Sm,--Tho statement in tho Star " that a number of children attending tho Waiotahi Creek School were amus'iug themselves at' bolstering' with the bedding on which a scarlet fevor patient had died/' is wholly untrue. Tho scholars were prohibited from leaving tho sohoolyard, and were under tho eyesight of the teachers tho whole of the time. .The children belonging to the afflicted family were not attending the school.--I am, He, .'J. Skeen, Teacher, Waiotahi Creek School,

SIR JULIUS VOGEL'S SPKECff. We have received a full report of the speech of Sir Julius Yogel to his constituents at Wanganui, and we republish in full what he said regarding the county system of government, which is to replace Provincialism. He did not say what he was made to say by telegraph :— COUNTY SYSIEir, I will now say a few words about the system of counties—for that is what we propose to call them—which we intend to submit to Parliament next session. You are doubtless aware that, whilst there was a unanimous feeling last session in 1 favour of abolishing the provinces, still there was a feeling that the General Government should not absorb all the power; that tho central power should not bo increased, but rather diminished, and that there should be some extended and real system of local government. That was the view which influenced many persons in voting for the abolition of the : provinces. There were a great .many opinions as to the form which the new local government should take; but it was agreed on all hands that it was desirable that tho expenditure on works of a local character, out of the residue of tho land revenue, should be handed over to local bodies without separate Parliamentary votes.. The bill which the Government introduced last session was modelled on Acts in force in some of the neighbouring colonies, by which shires are created out of road boards, on something of the Darwinian principle of the survival of the most fit. That bill did not find favour, and is, no doubt, open to tho charge that these ohanges are not, as a rule, made without great opposition and conflict between the various bodies concerned. We now propose a system by wbjck counties would be entirely distinct from road districts. In fact, neither will have control over the other. We propose to keep them quite distinct, each having its own duties, and each having its own revenue; and while they will be able' to come to any agreement amongst themselves as to any general works, it will not be necessary for them to do so, or enter into opposition or conflict with each' other." "The general idea is this:—First of all, we consider that the present provincial boundaries are too large, and are not suitable for the futuro divisions of the country. We propose that the whole country shall be divided into counties, and these- divisions shall be made after due consideration. I am not .prepared to say at present whether the Government will do this or invite the House to do it, . or appoint a Commission to do it. It is enough to say that the Government propose that the country shall be divided into counties, and that the boundaries of those counties shall be subjected to alteration if found desirable. We propose that, in the first instance, the Government, or Parliament, or probably the Governor, shall arbitrarily, if you like so to call it, make in each county not more than seven divisions, but less if it should be thought to be desirable; that these divisions shall return each at least one member to the county board, the members to be not more than seven; and that the board so constituted shall.have the_ power to re-consider the question of divisions and of representation, and to increase the number of members, subject to the limit which, I think, we should set, that no board should consist of moro than nine members. We propose that the board first elected shall exist for twelve months only; and that there shall then be a fresh 'election, subject to^any'permitted modifications which the first board may have made. We think that the boards so elected should exist for three years, and that, instead of the system which is adopted, in connection with most municipal bodies, of some members retiring and the ; vacancies being filled by elections each year) all tho members should continue in office .for three years, and the. whole Of the members be re-elected at the same time. The county chairman, we incline to think, should be elected by the whole constituency of each county. It is quite possible it may be found necessary that • the chairman should be a paid officer,'in which case he would be paid out of the county revenue; but in order to prevent county boards becoming in any sense political bodies, or the creation of any of those difficulties which have been enoountered under the provincial system, we aroof opinion it is desirable that no county chairman should be eligible to sit in Parliament. (Applause.) We propose that the county boards shall have chargo of the main roads of tho country j that it shall bo thoir duty to maintain those roads, and to construct.other large works wbiohmay. be for the benefit of the districts they comprise. The duties of county boards will be quite distinct from those of road boards—they will be confined to the construction and maintenance of arterial works within their own districts, whichwill eaoh represent a large division of the colony. The boards should have means at their disposal. You are aware, probably, that by tho let of last session Parliament decided that there should be a contribution of £1 from the consolidated revenue for each £1 raised by local taxation not exceeding Is in the £, and that there should be an equal amount contributed out of the land revenue. The Act provided that this contribution of £2 for £1 should be paid to road boards; but by a subsequent clause it was provided that in case of shires being formed, the whole amount should, be paid over to them. A like provision was made as to license fees. But what we intend to propose is, that the subsidies from the consolidated revenue and the land revenue shall be equally divided between road districts and county boards, and that the license fees shall go wholly to "couuty boards. The county boards to have the tolls on maiu roads, and also to have power to levy Bpecial rates for specified works, provided that the works and the amount of the rate be first approved of by a properly convened meeting of ratepayers. (Applause.) So that, while we shall propose to give the county boards very large powers, we shall also provide that the constituents of these boards shall be able clearly to express their wishes, and to take caro that those wishes aro carried into effect, (Applause,) 1 have spoken of "constituents," and you will naturally ask, " Who are they to be ?" Our proposal will be that tho electors for a county shall be all those persons who qualify themselves by payment of rates. The electors within road districts would be tho electors in counties. It may be possiblo, but I do not think it will bo at all general, that in somo parts of the colony it will be considered desirable to havo a county, but not to havo road boards, and in any such case the subsidies which I havo mentioned would go wholly to tho county boards. The eleotors in road districts will be electors in counties, _ but the county board will be entirely independent of road boards, and the latter, out of their own revenues, will carry on

their funclions as they hare been in the habit of.doing. We consider it. desirable not to mix up legislation with respect to the two bodies, and therefore, while we propose to deal with counties next session, I am not prepared to say we will deal with the other bodies, except so far as to enable existing road boards to continue their functions, if any legislation should be found to be necessary, for that purpose. There is another matter which it is important to mention, which I hope will find favour in your eyos, and in the eyes of the country. We do not propose to include any borough in any county. We think the borough should be as distinct as any county or road district. The counties will not therefore find themselves swamped, as in' the past, by the numerical voting power of the towns. The counties and tho towns will have independent existences, and yet whenever it is necessary to come to any general arrangement, it will be quite possiblo for the county, the borough, and the road district to co-operate and arrive at a mutual agreement. Not do we lose sight of the necessity to keep down the expenditure of counties. If the counties are willing to forego expensive staffs, the General Government will assist them as much as possible. We will, I believe, make provision by which, by agreement with a county, the Public Works Department would carry out or maintain for the county any work agreed upon. That would be a voluntary agreement between the county on tho one side and the Public Works Department on the other. We also propose that counties should have powerto borrow on tho revenue raised by special rates, and on general property and lolls, but not upon subsidies. We propose to keep those revenues bo distinct that in future the colony shall not be liable for the indebtedness of any county. I cannot sufficiently express my opinion of how important is that provision. For a long time it has been impossible to allow the provinces to borrow because it was impossible to get out of the position that if the .provinces borrowed, the colony was liable for the debt. That is not the case, and must not be the case with the new. counties. They must borrow upon the means which they possess, and with the consent and approbation of the ratepayers ; the money they expond must be obtained upon their own security, and not upon the security of the colony, The colony will have enough to do to borrow for its own works. It has still a : very great work to perform, for it has the grand system of trunk railways to carry out, which wo have so vigorously commenced. Wo do not want our railways to finish at thirty miles north of Christchurch, and forty miles out of Nelson, or that there should be no railways in Westland j and we do not want that the railway from Wanganui should close in one direction at Rahgitikei, and in the other at; Waiotara. Wo want that the provinces in this island should have intercommunication with each other, and so with the provinces of the other island. We must bear that in mind, and we must remember that our own responsibilities will require to be carefully attended to. It will be our duty to do with as little borrowed money as possible until our railways give evidence-which I must say they are beginning to do in a remarkable manner—that they can pay a considerable portion of the interest on the money out of which they have been constructed. (Oheers.) If this new system fulfils our expectations, it will be a system which will give to the country tho most complete local government system it is possible to conceive. We shall have a variety of local;, bodies-' throughout tho country which j possessing special and peculiar functions, will save Parliament much responsibility and care. They will relieve Parliament of many of those duties upon which members have looked with great dread, because they are called upon to deal with matters with which very few are acquainted, We shall have separate borough, road, district, and county government, and each body, it is presumed, will carry out its functions without coming into contact with the others. We shall arrive at this.result without renewing the provincial form of government. Care will be taken to prevent any heavy staff expenditure, but you will have a much hotter system of looal control than anything you could possibly name in the past. I am not going further into_ tho land question this evening, although it is a matterabout which a great deal might be said; but I have already occupied muoh of your time.