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New Zealand is a unitary state rather than a federation—regions are created by the authority of the central government, rather than the central government being created by the authority of the regions. Local government in New Zealand has only the powers conferred upon it by Parliament. These powers have traditionally been distinctly fewer than in some other countries. For example, police and education are run by central government, while the provision of low-cost housing is optional for local councils. Many of them used to control gas and electricity supply, but nearly all of that was privatised or centralised in the 1990s. ==Structure== New Zealand has two tiers of local government. The top tier consists of regional councils, of which there are 11. The second tier consists of territorial authorities, of which there are 67. The territorial authorities comprise 12 city councils, 53 district councils, Auckland Council and Chatham Islands Council. Five territorial authorities are also unitary authorities, which perform the functions of a regional council in addition to those of a territorial authority. The small, isolated Chatham Islands have a council with its own special legislation that makes it very like a unitary authority. New Zealand is divided into sixteen regions, administered by the eleven regional councils and the five unitary authorities. Most territorial authorities are wholly within one region, but there are a few that cross regional boundaries. In each territorial authority there are commonly several community boards or area boards (see below). These form the lowest and weakest arm of local government. Each of the regions and territorial authorities is governed by a council, which is directly elected by the residents of that region, district or city. Each council may use a system chosen by the outgoing council (after public consultation), either the bloc vote (viz. first-past-the-post in multi-member constituencies) or single transferable vote. The external boundaries of an authority can be changed by an Order in Council or notices in the ''New Zealand Gazette''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Local government boundaries )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Local government in New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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