A WELLINGTON VIEW.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14993, 13 June 1914, Page 12

A WELLINGTON VIEW.

A DESTRUCTIVE SYSTEM.

The Wellington "Evening Post" has the following:—"Some months ago, when members of sports bodies wero saying that the indiscriminate rating on the so-called 'unimproved value would compel them to surrender their beautiful grounds to builders, the 'Post' suggested an enquiry into the effects o£ that much-debated rate. The basic principle is good; the purpose is t> defeat the schemes of speculators who hope to hold land till the community greatly increases its value. The rate is meant to bring unoccupied land into use in a manner for which the public can be thankful. The rate certainly did loosen the grip of many who had been clinging to land for an unearned increment —but it has also gone far beyond the bounds originally mapped out. It is promoting a congestion of buildings in city areas., A garden, which may be a joy to hundreds who pass by daily, is not an 'Improvement'; but an ugly, squat, stucco structure is an 'improvement,' and the owner is compensated, in a sense, for disfiguring | the landscape. Thus the rate may work in practice as a penaliser of improvements, such as trees, flowers, and lawns (maintained at considerable expense), and a promoter of ugliness. It may be, in some cases, taxation of such improvements as beautiful open spaces which are refreshing oases in deserts of drabness, and a remission for tho hideousness which has banished the beauty. Some may say: 'People who can afford the upkeep of those gardens can afford to have them severely taxed.' Whether that is true or not, the fact is that garden spaces are being sadly reduced, and thus something which was beneficial to many people, in addition to the owners, is being wiped out. Surely it is evident to the meanest mind "that the public interest is better served by the maintenance of gardens at intervals throughout tho city than by a covering of those spaces with dead wood or stone, and tiles or corrugated iron. It is manifestly bad for a community to have a cast-iron rule of rating which sweeps away flowers and verdure."