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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Personal Volume

Local Government

Local Government.

I wish to point out to you how we have dealt with the question of local government. The question of local government is not only a difficult one in this Colony; it is even a difficult one in England, When Abolition took effect it was seen that if this Colony was to remain a true democracy you must bring the people face to face with their Government, and that the people could not be brought face to face with their Government if all power was centred in departments in Wellington. There was need of local government. Every one said so. Unfortunately the need still exists, and it is only bit by bit that you will get your local government built up. I believe that it was a mistake abolishing the provinces. I have never wavered from that opinion. I do not say that the Provincial Governments should not have been altered, should not have been improved, but I say the very idea of the provinces should not have been destroyed—that we should have worked on the basis that we had in existence to something better, more popular, and more democratic. Unfortunately, however, the majority of the people thought that if they once got rid of the Provinces they were going to enter upon some Elysian field, which I am afraid is still out in the Pacific Ocean. (Laughter and cheers.) Well, we had to deal with the question of local government when we took office. What did we purpose doing? We proposed strengthening them. We have passed Bills this last session consolidating the Counties Act and consolidating the Municipal Corporations Act. We have also dealt with the question of Hospitals and Charitable Aid. Some local governments say—"But what does that mean ?—it is simply calling upon us to pay more money than we did in the olden days," Quite true. It also means this-—calling upon the people to manage their own affairs; and if those people who think that it means taking more money out of their pockets would only realise this; that every pound spent by the Government in Wellington comes out of their pockets; and would only realise this: that the only chance of economy is that they manage their own affairs locally, they would see that, even though it means a greater tax upon them, it is really the means of getting page 12 carried out hospital and charitable aid at a cheaper rate than heretofore, and more effectively. That is what local government means. Do not run away with this notion, as many people do, that there is existing in Wellington—I do not know what you can call it—some huge box or chest of sovereigns, into which, if the Colonial Treasurer only puts in his hand, he can draw out all the money to spend. They do not stop to think that they have to put the money there, and that they cannot get any money out except they put it in. If you ask the Colonial Government to pay away money for charitable aid, hospitals, and other requirements in local districts, it means that the Government must tax you to fill that chest The meaning of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Act is this:—First, it gives you local management; second, it gives you, I believe, a cheaper management. I am glad to say that we have found from actual working that once you have placed the hospitals and the distribution of charitable aid in the hands of the local bodies—made them responsible to find part of the money—made them responsible for the administration—these two things,—it has been more cheaply done than it had been done in the past, through the central office at "Wellington having offices in the various provincial districts. And so it always is with local bodies. Do you imagine that if you abolished your Borough Council here and your County Council, and you had your roads managed from Wellington, and your rates managed from Wellington, that your roads and rates would be as well managed and as cheaply managed as by the local bodies? Not a bit of it. Of course you may say that the local bodies are always quarrelling amongst themselves, and if you want a road to your door, or a street lamp erected, you must get into the Borough Council first. (Laughter). Well, you always hear that sort of thing. I am afraid, however, that if you had no Borough Council, and no County Councils to find fault with, the number of depu-tations that would be coming by railway to Wellington would be so numerous, that the Wellington-Mana-watu Railway Company would be able to pay 2 per cent straight away. (Laughter). Do not imagine that because you have local government, and because you are brought face to face with the expenditure that you require for your local government, that you are paying more money than if you left everything to be dealt with by the Central Government. Now, I say that is the way to strengthen local government, and I say it is not to the credit of a previous administration that Sir John Hall brought in a Hospital and Charitable Institutions Bill in 1879, drawn on similar lines to our Bill in 1885; that that administration remained in 1879, remained in 1881, 1882, 1883, and part of 1884, and that Bill was left in the waste paper basket. We said it is our duty to try and do all we can to decentralize, and it shall be our endeavor, so long as we are in office, to cast all local works on local bodies, so far as possible, giving them the assistance that the finances of the colony will allow, and at the same time leaving the administration of local affairs to local bodies. It is only in that way that a true democracy is created, and grows up. If you read the history of any country it will tell you this : That if you find any colony, if you find any country in the world that manages the whole of its affairs from the Central Department, that colony, or that country, just in the degree that it manages everything from a Central Government, and gives no power to the local bodies, ceases to be demo-cratic, and becomes autocratic. And if we are to have in this colony a true democracy, we ought to give such an opportunity to the people to be so educated as to manage their County Councils, Borough Corporations, and other local bodies, that each one will feel that politics are his inid- page 13 vidual concern, that he is part of the State, and that he is not fulfilling his duty as a citizen unless he takes part in the administration of the State, unless he helps to build up the nation in which he dwells. (Cheers).