This requirement to have specific legislative authorisation resulted in a hodge podge of amendments to the local government legislation. For example, one of the (predecessor) Local Government Act of 1974 1974 Act's highly prescriptive provisions was s663, which gave councils a statutory power to install, light and maintain a town clock. It is said that by the mid 1990s, the 1974 Act rivalled the country's income tax legislation in terms of size and complexity. With over 100 amendments, the 1974 Act had become an unwieldy mish-mash of 1950s and 60s prescriptive planning, overlaid with 1990s accountability and financial provisions, with a complicated numbering system.