PUBLIC WORKS ACT, IN RELATION TO ROAD BOARDS AND COUNTY COUNCILS.

West Coast Times, Issue 2509, 16 April 1877, Page 2

PUBLIC WORKS ACT, IN RELATION TO ROAD BOARDS AND COUNTY COUNCILS.

(CASTfeRBIIRY PRESS:) By the P"u6llc Works Act, roails are dmOed into District roads, County roads, and Government roads. The term " roads," we should explain iHeUi'des also all bridges, culverts, ..drains, ferries, fords; gates;, buildings, and .other things thereto belonging upon the liiie anil within the limits of the road. roads are those respectirig which all powers, fights; 'dUties ahd liabilities are vested ih a R'ddQ Board. County roads are those which have been made by, or the management of which rests* with a Colin'ty Cbiiricii. Government roads are those constructed by', dr iitid'er the direct 'change of the General Government: I'he &£t does not define the klrid§ bf fbacls tliat afe to be comprised in each class; it would be next to impossible to frame a definition that would answer the purpose. The matter is left to the option of the Government and Councils themselves. Any road may be made iHfc'o a hou'tity rdHd By ah order of the County Council publicly gazetted 1 a'iid notified ; or it may b"e declared a Government road by a duly proclaimed order of the Governor in Council. But neither the county authorities' nor the Government are under any obligation to take over any road. There is no class of roads that as a matter of course come under their charge. It is probably assumed that the County Councils will undertake the main lines; but there i 8 tib express provision tri that effect. As the ,Act stands* a Council is at liberty to make a county road of any road within the district it plcaseSj or to abstain frora\declariug any county road at all. The only excebtibn ii ih the case of those parts of the colony whet;e there are no Road Boards. In these, all roads are county roads, or wherever the whole of the Counties Act is not In operation they are Gbverhifteht roads: But where there are road districtsl; it is to the Rbliu Boards tbat the Act looks as the bodies primarily responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads;. By the 81st section, all roads of any kind whatever are in the absence of positive arrangements to the contrary, placed under the.control of the Road Board of the district in which they are, and are to be deemed district roads We may add that if a County Council wishes to divesfc its'eli: of responsibility for any county, road, it can do so, provided it first obtains the consent of the Road Board to whose care the road reverts. The General Government have the further privilege of transferring any Government road to the bare of a County Council or Road Board, as they may think fit. Practically this places the whole matter at their disposal; For it is evidently open to them to apportion the, maintenance of roads iii any manner they choose, by first proclaiming' the'iri Government roads, and then exercising their power uuder the 89th section of transferring the charge to this or that local body at their discretion. Altogether, the effect of the Act is to devolve on the Road Boards the whole responsibility for the construction and maintenance of roads, unles,l when formally relieved bf it by the county. As to the means of defraying the' cost; we observe that no provision is made for expenditure on Government roads. It may be assumed that the Government will not, make, or undertake the charge of roads, unless with the previous sanction of the Assembly, and with a special appropriations for the purpose. The County Councils will have their rates, license fee?, &c, subsidies from the General Government, and their share of the available balance of the land fund. The Road Boards will have rates, tolls, and subsidies, with any moneys that may be allotted to them by the Council out of the county fuud. Where the Counties Act is not brought into force, and where consequently the entire charge of roads" is thrown 1 on the Road Boards they will receive all the moneys, from every source, that would otherwise belong to fch'e County Council; In point of revenue then, the lbcal governing bodies are pretty well supplied. But here comes in the defect in the existirig arrangements to which we" have already called attention. The greater part of the income of these bodies consists of money which they receive through thfe Colonial Treasurer and the law does not prescribe any time of payment, It does not direct him to pay monthly or quarterly, or at any fixed intervals, but treats it as sufficient if he makes hii p^yrnents v during the financial year." This is ah omissibn that.ought to be rectified. In the face ot the Heavy expenses just ,cast upon them, both CouDty Councils and Road Boards may well be anxious io know when.the subsidies to which they are entitled will be paid, and at what intervals the balance ot land fund will be distributed. Four members of thT^ol for -Bril " from Lurvyffroat bit.c, or any other sickness, aKSo/e waa in the sledging p«ty away frbm the snip 110 days, and another of them 98 days.