New Zealand Local Authorities and Their Constitution

NZ Services Current Affairs Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 21, 16 October 1944, Page 13

New Zealand Local Authorities and Their Constitution

There are at present in New Zealand 129 counties and 127 borough councils, of which 9 have the courtesy title of city, and 14 (including those 9) by reason of close settlement rank as urban areas. These have grown from the original 63 counties and 36 boroughs set up by the Counties Act and the Municipal Corporations Act of sixty-eight years ago. The two Acts constituted elective county councils with considerably reduced powers from the old Provincial Councils and incorporated the existing boroughs, making provision for the creation of new ones. From time to time these Acts have been amended and occasionally repealed and fresh Acts passed, in order to keep the relevant legislation in tune with modern developments. Thus in 1933 all existing municipal legislation was repealed and a new Municipal Corporations Act passed. There have been several amendments to this Act also in the intervening years, but the main body of the Act stands. It lays down what constitutes a borough, how it is elected and by whom, and what its powers are. By this Act any area of nine square miles in which no part is more than six miles from another, with a population of not less than 1,000, can petition the Governor-General to be incorporated as a borough. The petition must be signed by a fifth of the residents qualified to vote at the election of any local authority and a deposit of £lO must go with it. An approximate description of the area in question is gazetted, and • within one month of the issue of the particular Gazette any objections must be lodged in writing. If

there are objections, a Commission is appointed to decide whether or not the area is fit for municipal control. Should the decision of the Commission be in favour of incorporation, then a poll is taken.

All those residents who are entitled to vote at a local election qualify to vote at the poll, and if the votes cast in favour of incorporation are fewer than the number needed for the original petition the deposit is forfeited. A simple majority suffices in favour of incorporation. If the vote has been in favour of incorporation, then the new council is elected, and from then on will be elected triennially by secret ballot. To qualify as an elector, broadly speaking, you must be twenty-one years of age and have lived in the borough for three months or more, or, in the case of members of the Armed Forces who have served overseas, have taken up residence in the borough. On any proposal with regard to loans or rates, however you must be a ratepayer in order to vote. In the country up to this year a vote was given only to property-owners. However, this year an amendment to the Local Polls Act gives the vote on a residential basis. It is now true to say that almost all adults have a vote in the elections of local authorities in New Zealand.