LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

PRIOR

MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

RIOR to 1840 no municipal institutions existed in Australasia. On the 31st October of that year municipal elections were held in Adelaide, which was the first Australian city to acquire the right of self-government. On the 20th July, 1842, an Act providing for the incorporation of Sydney was assented to, and on the 12th of August of the same year Melbourne was constituted a municipality. In the former case the town was raised to the dignity of a city; Melbourne, however, was proclaimed a town, and continued to be so styled until 1847, when letters patent were received according to it the privilege enjoyed by Sydney. In New Zealand an Act was passed in 1852, dividing the colony into six provinces, the local administration of which was vested in Provincial Councils. This system continued until 1876, when the provincial system was abolished, and the whole colony, except the area within the forty-one boroughs then existing, was subdivided into counties, each county having fuil control of its local affairs. In 1858 Hobart was incorporated; and in 1859 Brisbane and Perth were erected into municipalities. In Victoria a general system of local government came into force in 1874. Queensland adopted a general system in 1879; and South Australia, in 1887.

With the exception of Western Australia, where extensive development has only taken place during the last few years, New South Wales, of all the colonies, is the most backward in regard to local government. The privilege of self-government is on all sides recognised as a sound one, and various measures to secure its establishment have from time to time been placed before Parliament, but so far the Legislature has not succeeded in giving effect to the manifest wishes of the constituencies. As the figures given below show, a large area still remains under the control of the central government in other colonies than New South Wales, but for this ample justification exists in the largeness of the territory and the sparseness of the population residing in the unincorporated areas, and it may be said that in all the provinces except New South Wales local governing bodies have been established in all places where the population is sufficient to make the introduction of the

municipal system desirable. The Northern Territory is omitted from the table:

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In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania, the rates are assessed on the assumed annual value; in Queensland, on the capital value; and in New Zealand the property within counties and road districts is assessed on the capital value, while in boroughs and town districts both descriptions of assessment are adopted. The value of ratable property in each of the colonies will be found below:

The annual value given for Tasmania is to a certain extent overstated, as the same property may be rated by more than one of the three local authorities-the Municipal Council, the Road Trust, and the Town Board. The New Zealand returns are similarly affected. In this

colony, and it is believed also in Western Australia, some of the various divisions overlap, but the error from this source can be but small. The capital value for boroughs and town districts in New Zealand is £41,436,847, and the annual value £2,486,211.

The capital and annual values of ratable property in Sydney and Melbourne since 1891 are given below. The figures show the depreciation in the value of real estate which has taken place during the past

The annual value of assessed property in Sydney, even under the present reduced valuations, is higher than that of any city in Great Britain, London alone excepted; while the annual value of Melbourne is only surpassed by London and, to a small extent, by Glasgow. The annual value of Glasgow, the second city of the United Kingdom, is £4,208,000, and of Liverpool, £3,775,045.

The revenue and expenditure of the local bodies in each colony are given below. In the receipts the amount of the Government endowment is specified, while in the expenditure the outlay on public works is similarly treated :

The revenue of local bodies per head of population in incorporated districts, and per square mile of territory in incorporated area, is, as far as can be ascertained, as follows:

The large revenue per square mile obtained in New South Wales and Western Australia is due to the circumstance already explained, that the area incorporated is small compared with the total territory of the two colonies, and comprises for the most part only urban settlements. The amount of outstanding municipal loans for each colony is shown below. The figures include the liabilities to the Government :

Against the gross liabilities shown above sinking funds are established in most of the colonies. The amount to the credit of local bodies in New South Wales is £234,460; in Victoria, £503,909; in Western Australia, £16,278; in Tasmania, £38,295; and in New Zealand, £291,072. There is also a fund in Queensland, but the amount accumulated cannot be given.

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West

Zeal

BOARDS AND TRUSTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

In addition to the municipalities, there are bodies known as Boards or Trusts whose function it is to construct and supervise certain works which, generally speaking, have been established for the benefit of districts differing from, and in most cases larger than, the areas incorporated for ordinary municipal purposes. These bodies are usually composed of members representing respectively the central government, the municipalities affected by the works in question, and other persons directly interested in the particular undertakings; and as a rule they raise the funds necessary for carrying out the works they control, by means of rates on the assessed value of the properties benefited, just as is the case in regard to municipalities.

In New South Wales there are the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage, which commenced by taking charge of the water supply in 1888, and assumed control of the sewerage system in 1889, and the Hunter River District Board of Water Supply and Sewerage, formed in 1892. The Wollongong Harbour Trust, which was instituted in 1889, was the only one of the kind in the colony-the works connected with shipping, and the improvements to navigation, at Sydney, Newcastle, and other ports, having always been carried out at the expense and under the supervision of the central Government. This Trust, however, has been abolished, and its powers assumed by the Government. There is a Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board, on which the municipalities within the metropolitan area are represented, and towards the annual expense of which they contribute one-third, and thirty-two country boards have also been established under the Fire Brigades Act of 1884, three of which are, however, within the area administered by the Metropolitan Board, and contribute to its funds. There are Irrigation Trusts at Hay and Balranald. A similar trust at Wentworth has been taken over by the Government, and the dissolution of the Balranald trust is under consideration.

The Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Act of New South Wales was passed in 1880. Under the provisions of this measure municipalities outside the area under the control of the Metropolitan and Hunter District Water Supply and Sewerage Boards were entitled to construct, or to have constructed for them by the Government, works for water supply and sewerage, provided the construction of the same were approved by the Governor-in-Council, and the municipalities agreed to pay back the original cost of the works, with interest at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum. The Government were to pay the certified cost of the works, and the municipalities were to repay the Government by instalments extending over a period of sixty years. Under the operations of this Act seventeen water supply works have been carried out by the Government (exclusive of Richmond, now administered by