STRONG PROTEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 196, 20 August 1930, Page 9

STRONG PROTEST.

APPEAL COURT DECISION

BLOW AT UNIMPROVED SYSTEM.

Protest was unanimous at the Northcote Borough Council last evening, against the judgment of the Appeal Court, given recently, whereby section 69 of the Rating Act, 1925, was declared to apply to districts where the rating is on the unimproved value.

A letter was sent from the Northcote' Council to Mr. A. Harris, M.P., asking him to press for an amendment of the section of the Act so that it would not apply to unimproved rating areas. It was stated in correspondence from the Takapuna Borough Council, that, at a recent meeting of the local bodies in the vicinity of Auckland, a resolution was passed that the executive of the Municipal Association be requested to ask the Minister for Internal Affairs .for immediate remedial legislation. It was pointed out in the letter to Mr. Harris that Northcote is rated on unimproved value of the land only, and the council, therefore, declined apprication for remission of half the rates, holding that rates were levied not on the dwelling houses or other buildings. The decision of the Appeal Court created alarm among the local bodies of Auckland, because the judgment struck at the heart of the unirriproved rating system.

Nobody over, dreamed that as the value of the building was not included in the rating value, the existence of the building was sufficient reason for claiming a remission of half rates on the land value. In other words, as the rates were not levied or paid on the building it was held that there were no rates to be remitted on vacant buildings. Mr. Harris replied that he was passing the letter on to the Government, and was strongly urging that legislation should be passed. The Mayor, Mr. A. E. Greenslade, thought that the amendment should be retrospective, for if not, many boroughs stood to lose considerable sums by remission of rates. He was in favour, if possible, of a period of three years. "The Government does not like retrospective legislation, I know," he said, "but this is an extraordinary case," Other members expressed similar views. The matter was referred to the finance committee.