The Thames Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1924. A GRAVE PROBLEM.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 16212, 29 September 1924, Page 4

The Thames Star.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1924. A GRAVE PROBLEM.

“With malice towards none; With charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.”— Lincoln. S 1

übsidies to local bodies are indissable. Anyone who understands circumstances of the country ws that they must be. Also does •yone know that the danger of n to the body politic as a whole in their indispensability. Discus<vf the report of.a Petitions Cornfee recently illuminates the itjon. It showed the local bodies Sing -towards destruction. The cinium subsidy, for.example, under j law is causing subdivision of nties, to the multiplication of their iber. This threatens the aggrei annual subsidy to local bodies eh is-now £200,000, with a fatal

p to a million. The meeting of Highways Board has recently reled a vast demand for money-'for is looming near. In the discusin the House on the above report, tf was thrown on the alarming

vt-h of local rates, in some cases lling up as high as a pound an !. Through all this disturbance Imputation and claims, it remains r that the subsidies to local bodies t continue. The difficulty is to :e a law that will discriminate, consequence of the want of such rimination is either the ruin of 6 local bodies or the ruin of the :e Treasury. Mr Massey has laid p the conditions on which this rimination should be exercised. subsidies, he said, should l)e n in proportion: L) To the rate collected. 2) To the ability of the district to pay. / 1

O' To the'needs of the district. : is, of course, evident; and consan evident difficulty. If the lidy is according to rate, only the local bodies bgn be • subsidised; only the rateless popr ones reel; the subsidy. So for the other lition. This proves that the subcan only be profitably given bv 3 authority having the power to riminate as to those who want idies most and those who want i least. Mr Massey asks who can the courage to use such disination? The question touches veakness of politicians. The soluof the difficulty lies in courage, jMtil .the politicians acquire and Bee that courage, the salvation le backblocks —and many other ;s —is impossible. If politicians the courage of their opinions, therefore, stand by them, all be well. If not—we leave the nee to be finished by all who ; for thdmselves.