H.—33

Indirect Representation. —It cannot be gainsaid that the personnel of the first Transport Board is a matter of paramount importance. Its function is to take control of a huge business undertaking as a going concern. With this in view we think that the members of the first Board should not be elected by popular vote ; in the present state of public feeling on transport matters in the district we think it would be a mistake to put this business concern on the hustings. We believe that the local bodies exercising the powers of election which our system proposes to place in their hands will approach -the selection of those members with a greater sense of responsibility and knowledge of the proposed personnel than might be expected from a popular vote of the ratepayers. In some of the outlying areas it is clear that there is a sense of grievance and hardship which, even though for the sake of argument we admit it to be wholly well-founded (we do not admit this), does not accord with a judicial exercise of the power of selection. Additional weight is given to this consideration by the fact that the local bodies have recently met in conference, and made overtures to the City Council, prefacing them with an expressed desire to bury the past, and seek an amicable solution of the difficulties. Elector's Qualification. —One ratepayer, one vote. General.—All witnesses who advocated the formation of a Board expressed the opinion that it should be a Board representative of all constituent parts of the district. With that opinion we agree, and we have tried to apply it in our recommendations as to the allocation of the members of the Board over the district. We have taken the respective populations and capital values as the basic factors ; but it is not possible to make or maintain an exact or proportionate allotment of representation on those bases ; the factors themselves fluctuate with the development of the district. We have, however, kept as near thereto as possible. We have also taken into account the contiguity of the areas in deciding our grouping. There is the additional factor that, in our opinion, the City of Auckland should for the present have a preponderance of members on the Board. All these factors have been taken into account by us. The resultant figures will, no doubt, be criticized — we can ourselves find ground for criticism ; but we claim that the alteration of the figures by transferring one number one way or another would be, on precisely the same grounds, open to greater criticism.' We show in Appendix F the calculations on which our recommendation is based. Term of Office.-—The term of office of members shall be six years, subject, however, to the following : Three years after the first election of members of the Board one-half of the members so elected shall retire. The members to retire then shall be one-half of the members representing each of the three groups, and the choice of retiring members shall be determined by lot. Thereafter the election shall be held every three years, when one-half of the representatives of each group shall retire ; those Who have been longest in office being the members to retire. In case of equality of service on the part of members of any group, the choice shall be made by lot. Chairman. —The Chairman shall be elected by the Board. Election of Chairman shall be the first business, after the first and each sextennial election. The Chairman shall hold office for six years. His name shall not be included when lots are drawn to decide who shall retire at any triennial election. Remuneration.—Chairman, £250 per annum ; members, £l 10s. per meeting, with a maximum of £78 per annum. With what Powers of Control and with what Powers of undertaking Transport Services should such Board be established ? We recommend that the Board should have the exclusive right to construct, manage, maintain, and operate tramways, and shall have the exclusive right to maintain, manage, and operate motor-and-horse-omnibus services, and any like passenger service, by any vehicle plying or standing for hire for the conveyance of passengers at separate fares within the said district; provided further that the Board may from time to time, and for such period not exceeding five years and subject to such conditions as the Board may impose, grant to any person the right to maintain, manage, and operate motor- or horse-omnibus services, or any like

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