H.—33

We have tried to fix the boundaries of this district by reference to the principle that the Board should comprise and represent the area covered by the main metropolitan traffic which it will be expected to control and operate. We have, however, taken into account also what we believe to be a collateral principle —namely, that the Board should be a Metropolitan Board, called into being in the metropolis of Auckland by reason of the peculiar difficulties which operate in that metropolis and prevent, for the time being, the adoption of the usual methods of unified municipal control. We realize that wherever (within reasonable limits) the boundaries of the Board's district should be fixed they will lie, not on clearly defined limits beyond which transport facilities with the city proper may be ignored, but on what may be culled a fringe of country within which, to a varying extent, transport problems must be faced. We see no sufficient reason for extending the boundaries so that they should take in all termini of daily services to the city. We gave careful consideration to the claims of the Town Districts of Henderson, Glen Eden, and. New Lynn, and the Borough of Otahubu, to be included in the district, but eventually decided to exclude them. We are of opinion that the four districts which we have named lie rather within the present outer fringe of the transport district than within the district proper, and we are not prepared to substitute their purely arbitrary boundaries for the natural boundaries we have selected. If the Transport Board district as we have defined it be studied on the map (Appendix I), it will be seen that it may fairly be described as a topographical entity with natural boundaries. We are of opinion also that it comprises the logical and natural limits of the City of Auckland for a great many years to come, as that city follows the ordinary and inevitable evolution of growing municipalities. With regard to Henderson, there is the further consideration that to bring it into the district would make it necessary to bring in also a portion of the intervening County of Waitemata. The definition of this intervening part of the county would, in our opinion, give rise to more difficulties than would be compensated for by the inclusion of Henderson. As will be seen later, we have provided for consideration of the claims of outlying areas by suggesting a means of procuring a special form of representation on the committees of the Board. Relation to Existing Legislation.—The Board shall be a local authority within the meaning of the Tramways Act, 1908, the Local Elections and Polls Act, 1908. and the Local Bodies' Loans Act, 1926. Number of Members.—The Board shall consist of ten members. Subject to the special provision appearing below as to the election of the first Board, its members shall be elected by all the ratepayers in the respective areas : Area (1) to elect six members ; area (2) to elect two members ; area (3) to elect two members : total, ten. The First Board shall be elected as follows : Within a month of the coming into operation of the Act the Governor-General in Council shall call on the Auckland City Council to appoint six members to the Board. They shall thereupon be appointed by that Council by a resolution of the majority of the members of that body present at a meeting convened and held for the purpose. Certified copies of such resolution, together with written consent by each member, shall be sent to the Minister of Public Works, who shall thereupon publish the same in the Government Gazette. Within the same time - limit the Governor - General in Council shall by Proclamation, direct the nomination, on or before a day mentioned in the Proclamation, of the number of members required to be appointed for Group Areas (2) and (3) respectively. Thereupon each local authority in each group area may nominate a person or persons, not more than two, such nominations being made by resolution of the majority of the members present at a meeting convened and held for the purpose. Certified, copies of the resolutions, and written consents of the nominees, shall be sent to the Minister of Public Works, who shall publish the same in the Government Gazette. The Minister of Public Works shall, if the number of nominations for either area be more than two, thereupon direct an-election to be held at a time and place named by him ; such direction to be published in the Government Gazette.

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