Editing County (section)

== Oceania ==
===Australia===
In the [[eastern states of Australia]], counties are [[lands administrative divisions of Australia|used in the administration of land titles]]. They do not generally correspond to a level of government, but are used in the identification of parcels of land.

The local communities in Australia that share the same [[post code]] are usually referred to as [[suburbs and localities (Australia)|suburbs or localities]]. Several neighboring suburbs are often serviced by the same [[local government in Australia|local government]] known as a [[council]], whose [[jurisdiction (area)|jurisdiction]] is officially known as the [[local government area]] (LGA). An LGA functions basically the same way as a county of other countries, although it is called instead as "city", "municipality", "shire", "borough", "town", "district" or simple "councils" depending on the [[states and territories of Australia|state/territory]] and [[subregion]]. It performs [[municipal services]] and regulates [[construction permit|permit]]s for [[land use]]s, but lacks any [[legislative]] or [[law enforcement]] powers.

===New Zealand===
{{Main|Counties in New Zealand}}

After New Zealand abolished its [[provinces of New Zealand|provinces]] in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989. They had chairmen, not mayors as [[borough]]s and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as [[burial]] and [[subdivision (land)|land subdivision]] control) were different for the counties.

During the second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a ''district'' (e.g. [[Rotorua]]) or a change of name to either ''district'' (e.g. Waimairi) or ''city'' (e.g. [[Manukau City]]).

The [[Local Government Act 1974 (New Zealand)|Local Government Act 1974]] began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the [[Chatham Islands]] County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".