For 40 years, New Zealanders have been told that fewer councils mean better government, and for 40 years, the evidence has refused to oblige.
Until 1989, New Zealand had about 850 elected local government bodies. Councils sat alongside elected water catchment boards, pest destruction boards, harbour boards, drainage boards and electricity supply boards. The democratic granularity was sometimes confusing and occasionally inefficient. It was also the deepest civic infrastructure in the country.
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