The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1913. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 181, 21 January 1913, Page 2

The Waipa Post. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1913. LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

A very interesting report pre-

pared by the local government board of New South Wales at the request of the New Zealand Government was presented to the House last session, and in view of the avowed intention of the Massey Administration to put through a bill next session dealing with the same, the report aroused considerable interest. The local areas in this State are divided into two classes ; namely, shires and municipalities. At the present time there are 134 shires and 189 municipalities.

The latter consist primarily of. large towns and cities, while shires cover large stretches of grazing, dairying, or agricultural country together with the many small towns and villages dotted therein Though endowments or more properly subsidies are given to both municipalities and shires, that primarily for road purposes is given to shires alone. The report dealing exhaustively with the origin of the municipal endowments dating from the municipalities Act 1897* whereby a municipality was entitled to endowment for a period of fifteen years after its incorporation, showing that it is not now

the policy of the Government to grant further endowments, but rather to discourage application, and to discontinue the present endowments as soon as possible. The chief reason for so doing is on account of the fact that these municipal endowments have no special reference to the upkeep

of roads. All bridges which cost to construct £2OOO 01 over, whether situated in shires or municipalities are declared to be ‘ national ’ works and are directly maintained by the central government’s district engineer at government, expense. Similarly several large and important wharves, and eleven large steam or oil-driven ferry punts have been declared “ national ” works. The shires cover an agregate

area of 114,643,200 acres ranging from 20,480 acres the smallest, to 3,644,800 acres the largest, being designed roughly to embrace sufficient land to yield an income of hot less than £3OOO from a general rate of id in the pound on the unimproved capital value of all ratable land. The functions of shire councils in elude care of public health, noxious weeds destruction, public wharves, bush fire prevention) flood prevention, and the provision of water for travelling cattle on the great overland stock routes, and on the routes from

cattle stations to railways. The Government is bound to set aside not less than £150,000 for endowment of shires, but the amount has always been considerably in excess of this, being in 1912 no less than £335,000. Once every three years the whole of the shires are arranged in six classes, and in determining the class of each shire the following matters are taken into consideration : —(a) The extent of the shire ; (b) the probable revenue derivable from a rate of id in the £ on the unimproved capital value of ratable land in the shire: (c) the necessary annual expenditure ; (d) the extent of the roads

to be made and maintained; (e) the difficulty of construction and maintenance of roads and other public works ; (f) the facilities to be afforded to vehicular traffic; (g) the extent of public works maintained by the Government; (h) the extent of Crown lands, (other than parks or reserves for public recreation) from which the Council will receive no rates, and the existence of which in the shire involves expenditure by the council on road construction or in other ways. A special committee is appointed to deal with this classification, and before it is placed the accounts of each of the shire councils for the three preceding years, and a return of its estimates of annual requirements for the next three years’ expenditure upon roads, bridges, public watering places, wharves, administration, and pounds. Each council must also give an estimate of revenue for the next three years, and information as to the unimproved capital value of all rateable lands in the shire. The classes and endowment of

each class as fixed by law are : Ist class from nothing up to 10s

in the £; 2nd class, 15s in the £; 3rd class, 20s in the £ ; sth class, 30s in the £; 6th class, 40s or any higher rate in the £. The endowments are all paid at so much in the £ upon the actual proceeds of the general rate collected by the council in the year preceding the year of payment. Some shires received as much as 100 s in the

£, and one even 133 s in th c •*-> though in these cases there are generally exceptional circumstances, such as wild mountainous country, where roadmaking is costly, heavy rainfall which wastes the roads away, heavy

traffic and very vigorous closer settlement, rendering a large amount of construction necessary, Two classifications under the Act have already been made, and the Department has been gratified at the surprisingly small amount of dissatisfaction expressed.