LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN QUEENSLAND.
First Municipality Established.--Brisbane Bridge Lands.--Grant
for Town Hall.--Consolidating Municipalities Act.--Provincial
Councils Act.--Government Buildings not Rateable.--Brisbane
Bridge Debentures and Waterway Acts.--Municipal Endowment.
--Local Government Act of 1878.--Divisional Boards Act of
1879; Success of the Act.--Local Works Loans Act.--Two Pounds
for One Pound Endowment Repealed.--Rating Powers Extended by
Local Authorities Act of 1902.--Cessation of Endowment.
--Valuation and Rating Act.--Decline in Land Values.
--Unequal Incidence of Rates Levied.--Efficiency of Local
Authorities.
When Sir George Bowen proclaimed the establishment of Queensland there
was only one municipality within the boundaries of the new colony.
Brisbane had been incorporated just three months earlier, probably
with the view of having the Mayor of a local authority to take his
part in the inaugural celebrations. At that time the New South Wales
Municipal Institutions Act of 1858 was in force, but it was quite
inadequate to the needs of the country. Sir George Bowen, coming from
residence among the crowded populations of Great Britain and several
European countries, and recognising what powerful safeguards to
public liberty municipal corporations had proved, publicly urged the
establishment of local government in Queensland on every favourable
opportunity.
In 1861 two Municipalities Acts were passed, one empowering the
Brisbane City Council to build a bridge across the river, and
providing for endowment in the form of grants of Crown land not
exceeding two-thirds of the unsold town and suburban allotments of
Brisbane; also empowering the council to borrow for the purpose
of erecting the structure. The other Act gave extended powers to
municipal councils generally. It defined the rateable value of
unoccupied lands to be 8 per cent. of their actual capital value, but
the minimum rate of any allotment was not to be less than 10s. per
annum. It also provided that unoccupied land might be leased for
fourteen years by a council when rates had been permitted to fall into
arrear for a term of four years. It further empowered a council to
borrow on mortgage a sum not exceeding the estimated revenue for the
ensuing three years. As additional endowment, it was provided that
the Governor in Council might pay to a municipal council every year
one-third of the proceeds of land sold within its jurisdiction; and
where one-half of the land in a municipality had been sold the council
were to be entitled to one-half of the proceeds of future sales.
In 1863 an Act was passed giving the Brisbane Council power to erect a
town hall on allotment 4 and part of allotment 3 of section 12, with a
frontage to Queen street and Burnett lane respectively of 99 ft., and
a depth of 138 ft., to be granted by the Government on the passing of
the Act. The council were empowered to borrow L20,000 for the purposes
of the hall. The Brisbane Waterworks Act empowered the Government to
grant a site for the proposed works on the heads of Enoggera Creek,
but the Government were to borrow the sum necessary for construction,
and to hand over the money to the council as it might be required.
In 1864 an amending and consolidating Municipal Institutions Act was
passed giving larger and more specific powers to municipal bodies.
In the same year a Provincial Councils Act was passed, empowering
the Government to appoint such councils in the country districts, and
place at their disposal money from time to time voted by Parliament
for roads and bridges within their jurisdiction. But the members, not
being elective, had no power to levy rates, so that the councils would
at best have been no more than bodies delegated with power by the
Works Department to carry out works with which the Government could
not conveniently grapple. The only provincial council established
under the Act, however, was one for the Peak Downs district, of which
all the members were Crown lessees. That council had its place of
meeting at Clermont, and on first assembling it resolved not to admit
the Press to its meetings. This exclusive policy, combined with the
class character of its members, made the council at once unpopular,
and after spending L2,000 which had been placed to its credit by the
Government it ingloriously collapsed.
In 1865 an Act was passed dividing the Brisbane Municipality into six
wards, each returning two members. In 1868 an amendment of the 1864
and 1865 Acts was passed enabling councils to forbid the erection of
inflammable buildings. In the following year an Act was passed which
forbade the levy of rates upon Government buildings. An Act of the
same year enabled the Governor in Council to rescind any proclamation
of town or suburban lands.
In 1870 the Brisbane Bridge Debentures Act and the Brisbane Waterway
Act were passed. By the former the council were empowered to issue
debentures, bearing 5 per cent. interest and covering L121,250, for
the payment of its bridge liabilities. The preamble recited that
a contract had been entered into with Mr. John Bourne for the
construction of the bridge; that owing to alterations in the plan
assented to by the Government the cost had been largely increased, and
the work had in fact been suspended; that the bank overdraft, secured
upon all the bridge lands and the rates, exceeded L100,000; and
that Thomas Brassey, having supplied the ironwork of the bridge, had
undertaken to complete the structure on certain conditions involved
in the issue of the debenture loan above mentioned. The Waterway
Act provided for the repayment to the council of the cost of certain
waterways by the sale of lands specified in the schedule.
In 1875 another Act was passed providing for the payment to the
Brisbane Council of the cost of certain drainage works by the sale of
city lands specified in its schedule. In the same year the Rockhampton
Waterworks Act, being the first for a provincial body, was passed. In
1876 an Act was passed for endowing municipalities to the extent of
L2 for L1 on the rates collected for the first five years after
incorporation and L1 for L1 in subsequent years.
In 1878 was passed the ponderous Local Government Act, adapted from
the recent Victorian legislation, but denounced by the Opposition
in the Assembly at the time as far too cumbrous save for town
municipalities. It formed, however, one of the bases of the Local
Authorities Act of 1902. In 1879 a new departure was made by the first
McIlwraith Government by passing a rudimentary measure--the Divisional
Boards Act--in which the Government took power to apply the Act
simultaneously to all parts of the colony. It gave power to levy
rates, and therefore excited popular anti-tax demonstrations. But
much that was said against the bill proved on investigation to be
inaccurate, and the endowment it provided of L2 for L1 collected in
rates for the term of five years ultimately went far to neutralise the
hostility expressed towards the measure. Also the bill provided that
to give the boards a start an additional L100,000 should be divisible
among them as soon as their respective valuations had been made and
a certified copy of each had been forwarded to the Treasury. After a
stern and protracted struggle in the Assembly the bill was passed, and
immediately the Colonial Secretary of the time (Mr. A. H. Palmer) cut
into "divisions" the entire area of the colony outside the boundaries
of existing municipalities, and proclaimed seventy-four local
governing areas under that name, each in three subdivisions with nine
members for each body. Then every division was invited to elect its
first members, and rather more than one-half of them did so.
Within four months from the passing of the Act--on 13th February,
1880[a]--the whole of the members were gazetted, the Government having
taken advantage of the power given to the Governor in Council to
appoint the first members where no action had been initiated to elect
them within ninety days after the passing of the Act. Thus the names
of between 600 and 700 members were proclaimed on one day, and the
new boards forthwith proceeded to put the Act into execution. In a
comparatively short time valuations were made, and on receipt of a
copy the Treasurer placed to the credit of the board, in the branch of
the Queensland National Bank nearest to the division, an amount equal
to 1s. in the pound of the valuation. This done, works were forthwith
commenced in all parts of the country, and a few years later visitors
from the South were wont to compliment the people of Queensland on the
vast improvement made in their bush roads.
In the following year (1880) the Local Works Loans Act was passed,
and attracted attention in different parts of the Empire as the first
measure that provided for advancing local loans by a Government on the
scientific basis of a term measured by the life of each work, and in
accordance with an actuarial scale set out in a table in the schedule.
The longest term was forty years, that being given for the most
durable works, the rate charged being 5 per cent. interest, with
16s. 8d. per annum redemption money. Thus a council could borrow for
waterworks on a forty years' loan, and redeem the principal as well
as defray the interest charge, by payment of regular half-yearly
instalments of L2 18s. 4d. per cent. during the term. This Act
soon became very popular, and with slight amendments--one being the
reduction of the interest charge to 4 per cent., and the half-yearly
instalment in the case of a forty years' loan to L2 10s. 01/2d.
per cent.--it still remains on the Statute-book as part of the Local
Authorities Act of 1902. Several millions sterling have since been
lent by the Government under this Act, and scarcely a local authority
has defaulted except for a short period. The principle has also been
extended to sugar works and other loans not contemplated originally;
yet with firm administration, such as the Government for several years
past have insisted upon, the future losses, if any, will be slight,
and the benefit of the Act continue to be great.
[Illustration: TIMBER GETTING, NORTH COAST DISTRICT]
In 1887 Sir S. W. Griffith passed an amending and consolidating
Divisional Boards Act in which many defects of the original measure
were corrected. About the same time he passed an Act to relieve the
Treasury from the excessive burden of the L2 for L1 endowment, which
had been extended in 1884 for a second five-year period. Under the
amended law only such sum as Parliament might vote in each year was to
be rateably divided among all local authorities. After that time
the endowment diminished until in 1893 it reached a very small sum.
Afterwards the amount remained at about 6s. in the pound until 1902,
when, in passing the new amending and consolidating Local Authorities
Act of that year, the Philp Government made no provision for
continuance of the endowment. In 1903, therefore, owing to the
embarrassment of the Treasury in consequence of heavy deficits for
several years in succession, the endowment altogether ceased, and
since that time the Government have steadfastly refused to listen to
proposals for renewing the payment, on the ground that each governing
authority should raise its own revenue by taxation or otherwise, and
not depend upon endowments collected by any other governing authority.
The stoppage of the endowment was in some degree compensated for by
the extension of the rating powers of the local authorities, but the
exercise of these has no doubt accentuated the drop which occurred
in assessment values after the crisis of 1893. Some councils,
through failure to make use of their powers of rating, have had an
insufficient income, so that in parts of the country the roads are now
in a less traffickable condition than they were a quarter of a century
ago. In other cases, however, the local bodies have so used the
powers conferred upon them that they make no complaint of insufficient
income.
From the day of the presentation to Parliament of the Divisional
Boards Bill there had always been an outcry, among the farming
ratepayers chiefly, against the taxation of improvements. In 1890,
therefore, after ten years' experience, the Government of the
coalition, whose leaders had long been severed by difference of
opinion on the subject of land taxation, perceived in a universal levy
on the unimproved value, so called, a method of mutual reconciliation
which would meet the demands of many true exponents of local
government principles, and they agreed to introduce the new system.
The "unimproved value" is by no means an accurate definition of what
either the taxpayers or the Legislature at the time desired. But no
one has yet discovered a more satisfactory definition, and therefore
it stands.
Up to 1890 the assessment had been on the net rent a property might
be reasonably expected to yield after deducting the cost of rates
and insurance and the amount necessary to maintain the property in a
condition to command such rent. This was, in short, the old basis of
assessment in the mother country; but to meet the objection to the
assessment of improvements the Government, in introducing the first
Divisional Boards Bill, had modified the valuation clause by the
proviso that the improvements on land should be assessed at one-half
their value. This was a modification of the New Zealand assessment
method, and it gave fair satisfaction for a time.
Country ratepayers for the most part approved the change to the
unimproved value assessment; but speculators in unoccupied city,
town, and suburban lands regarded it as a gross injustice. They not
unnaturally complained that an allotment bare, or with a mere hut upon
it, would pay as much in rates under the new system as the adjoining
allotment which might be the site of spacious business premises or
of a palatial dwelling. To this the reply was that the speculative
holding of city and suburban lands inflicted gross injustice upon the
man who wanted at existing value an allotment for his own use.
The Valuation and Rating Act of 1890 passed, however; and the law as
it stands has the undoubted merit of simplicity in valuations. On the
other hand, the rate levied under the unimproved value assessment upon
vacant lands is sometimes oppressive, and appreciably reduces their
capital value. Another unforeseen effect has also been realised. The
value of a highly improved allotment tends to become depressed to
the value of the unproductive and unoccupied allotment contiguous or
adjacent to it. Hence an intending buyer is apt to ascertain the local
authority valuation of any land he needs, and to regulate his price
accordingly. In a buoyant land market this might not much affect the
selling value, but for twenty years past the land market for city or
suburban properties has been the reverse of buoyant. So the unimproved
value mode of assessment has apparently assisted to make a substantial
reduction in the market value of city and suburban properties. But
that is perhaps a less evil than may at first sight appear. The
speculative inflation of land values is simply a tax upon the user
for all time; and the moment the income-earning value is exceeded the
excess must be regarded as an unjust charge upon posterity.
Of course land values will eventually find their true level, whatever
law of rating may be in force. It may be conceded that the unimproved
assessment has caused distress among landowners who had no means of
improving their properties, and could only find a market for them at
a heavy sacrifice. Still there is no disposition on the part of the
majority of ratepayers to revert to the old annual value system, and
there is not likely to be any alteration in the law in this respect
unless for the removal of some obvious administrative anomaly. For,
as the coalition leaders agreed nineteen years ago, the local rate has
become a land tax pure and simple, and if it be held that more money
is wanted for development the simpler course is to allow the local
authorities to give another twist to the rating screw. This, as a
matter of fact, most of them have of late years done, and in many
local jurisdictions the rate is now 3d. in the pound, when twenty
years ago only 1d. or 11/2d. was levied. In 1884 the total local
rates levied were L120,479; in 1908 the total was L452,052 for, it
must be remembered, an identical aggregate area. A local authorities'
rate has the distinct advantage in a young State like Queensland that,
whereas a Treasury land tax would reach only the freeholders of
less than 20,000,000 acres, the local government rate is levied upon
460,000 square miles.
The subjoined table is compiled from Statistics of Queensland for 1884
and 1908 respectively:--
AMOUNT LEVIED BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
------------------------+-------------------------+------------------------
Year 1884. | Year 1908. | Increases, 1908.
------------------------+-------------------------+------------------------
CITIES AND TOWNS-- L | CITIES AND TOWNS-- L | CITIES AND TOWNS-- L
General Rates 46,208 | General Rates 150,744 | General Rates 104,536
| |
Separate 4,845 | Separate} | Separate or
| } 87,155 |
Special 7,583 | Special } | Special 74,727
------- | -------- | --------
Total L58,636 | Total L237,899 | Total L179,263
| |
DIVISIONS-- | SHIRES-- | SHIRES--
Total L61,843 | Total L214,153 | Total L152,310
------- | -------- | --------
Grand Total L120,479 | Grand Total L452,052 | Grand Total L331,573
------------------------+-------------------------+------------------------
Thus, since the unimproved value system came into force, the levies
of the local authority rates have multiplied about three and a-half
times. In 1884, when the first quarter-century closed, the divisional
boards drew L2 for L1 as Treasury endowment, which, assuming the
rates were all collected, made their incomes from the combined sources
L185,529 for the year. In 1908, without a penny of endowment, their
successors'--the shire councils--rate levy totalled L214,153, or
L28,624 in excess of both rates and endowment in 1884. In 1884 the
city and town councils levied rates amounting to L58,636, which with
endowment added should have given them L117,272. In 1908 the cities
and towns levied an aggregate of L237,899, an increase upon 1884 of
L120,627, despite the loss of the L1 for L1 endowment.
These figures are interesting in view of the agitation for a Treasury
land tax. They show that in 1908, with a total of 53,948 city and town
ratepayers, their rate contribution was on the average L4 8s. 2d. per
ratepayer. At the same time 97,553 shire ratepayers contributed the
average of only L2 3s. 11d. each. The wide discrepancy between the
payments of town and country ratepayers seems anomalous, but when
it is recollected that the urban councils, of which there are only
thirty-five, undertake many public services, and that the entire area
of incorporated cities and towns is only about 354 square miles, it
will be realised that the circumstances widely differ from those of
the shires, whose various jurisdictions embrace almost the entire area
of the State, the official estimate being 669,901 square miles. This
area includes 210,359 square miles of unoccupied country, much of
which is traversed by roads, but which presumably yields no rate
revenue. Hence no useful comparison can be made between the rate
levies of town and country local authorities respectively. At the same
time a local "land" tax--which ranges from the general-rate of 1/2d.
in the pound in the case of shires, to 3d. in the pound, besides
special and separate rates, in cities and towns, and which makes the
average total contribution of town ratepayers more than twice the
amount levied upon country ratepayers--may at no distant time call
for rectification, especially if a so-called bursting-up tax should be
deemed necessary to meet the wants of close settlement.
Meanwhile there is room for congratulation in the fact that every
square mile of the vast area of the State--coastal islands alone
excepted--is incorporated, and that 160 local authorities with 1,310
members carry on the entire local government work of the country.
These men, unlike members of Parliament, are unremunerated by the
State, even free railway passes not being conceded to enable them to
attend the periodical meetings. The alderman or shire councillor gives
purely honorary service, and relieves the State Government of a vast
amount of worry and expense.
[Illustration: CAIRNS RANGE AND ROBB'S MONUMENT, NORTH QUEENSLAND]
One good effect of local self-government is the exclusion from
Parliament of the pestilent road-and-bridge member who in former
years made himself so troublesome to Ministers and so often twisted
the decision of the Assembly on important questions.
It would be a bad thing indeed for Queensland if the local
authorities, or any substantial percentage of them, became
inefficient. There may be room for anxiety at evidences of decadence
which at times come to the surface; but that local government in
Queensland is a vigorous and living entity is fairly evident from
the fact that with very few exceptions the 160 city, town, and shire
councils are members of the Local Authorities' Association which
annually makes itself heard in conference in Brisbane. Manifestly the
spirit of decentralisation is not dead in Queensland. The manner in
which the various bodies have survived the stoppage of the Treasury
endowment, simultaneously with the thrusting upon them of many new
responsibilities by the Act of 1902, must be regarded as a clear
indication that local government in Queensland retains undiminished
vitality.
[Footnote a: See "Queensland Government Gazette" of date
mentioned.]