City Rates.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19887, 26 March 1930, Page 10

City Rates.

The City ratepayers, who Save b£ flow SiKsfled to tHe best 8f thfeir fliikihciistl ability the rate requisitidns ittr thfe ihttiiifeifJal ijtlgt tildsingj will before lflfif fllgGßVlf What furthfer demands toe to be made upon them to rifect the expenditure for the cbming year. During recent jrearS a steadiljr increasing; aifiouiit of mdiiey lids been taken train t&g jiticfeeits of the Ratepayers; and, if that process is to continue unchecked, the annual penalty for dwiling City property will be out of all proportlbh tb mfe The tofciil rate lew m tile >gaf 1928-29 fimouiiiefl to £322,593, while for the yedt jiiit cidiihg the levy had ddvariijecL Id £352,735. In the coming year it may possibly be &400)000, find, ill the course of time, if the ratepayer! cantiot ttf &<j nbt ttSsert themselves, the margin betWefen the abnual valtle- of tfieii* property and tiie rates leVied upon it may dwindle to incon§picuousn{*s& More than two-thirds of the moiiey cdiifeSted gdfes (8 th 6 tJity Couiieiij the remainder fit)' othei* local authorities, su<ih as thfe fibspitftl Board, the Drainage Board, and the Waimakariri River TruSt. The tefal'levf for the year not? closiiigf Wdß mide M follows: CitV Coulellj £327)270 (geiifetal rati £147,536, sanitary £4294, water £26,309, street lighting £10,141, special ratfcs £38,990); other local StttfidriMisj J5i25,461 fJf6S|jit&i Eidafd domains Bditrd &284% sTif& Board £6156, Drainage Bddrd £77,420, Waimakariri leftist & * 6ity Council genferdl rate wis over £22,000 in excess of tHe flinoulii collected in the prevititiS jfi&t. t Siflfeq it is probably too much to tibpe tMt the City Council, as at present 66tt§tltutcd and dominated, will concern itself very Siritraiiy 18 ligHtM ttlS foad ttpefi Jffttefjjf ffliififa . fieidM economies in conducting the affairs of

the City, that duty will have to wait until the claims of the ratepayers for relief can be addressed to a'more sympathetic body. Apart from the gtowing increase in general expenditure there is also a formidable increase in loan liabilities. Since 1920 the municipal debt has advanced from £723,411 to £1,656,788 in 1929, while the population of the City in the same peviod increased only from 101,747 to 125,170. This loan liability of course falls upon the ratepayers only, although the expenditure is designed for the good of the community; and the position of the ratepayers is further weakened by the exercise of powers whereby the Council, popularly elected, may by special order and without their consent authorise Hie raising of loans binding upon ratepayers. New South Wales Coal Dispute. For a second time news comes from Sydney that the dispute regarding the working of the mines of ndrtheru New South Wales has been settled. At the end of last November a similar Announcement was made and the tevms of the settlement were given. This provided for a reduction of all contract wages by twelve and a half per c nt. and of the wages of day labourers by sixpence a ton. The owners on part agreed to submit figures to a committee of employees, showing that the reductions mentioned l-epresentcd ninepence a ton on an average over the whole of the collieries affected. It intended that coal for inter-State and export trade should be reduced 5s a ton, c-ontribUted as follows: Federal Government Is, State Government 2s, owners Is 3d. This was accepted by the conference representatives of the miners, theli rejected by the miners' lodges at the instigation of the militants in the Federation; and the settlement came to nothing. The State Government then proceeded to open the Rothbury lriiiie on the sathe terms With free labour, which met with violent opposition. The legal action taken by the miners to test the validity of the State's measures and to havfe the dispute removed to the Federal Arbitration Court also came to nothing; and the long drawn out dispute dontiiitied with the Rothbury mine alone working. In the general economic depression which then began to make itself severely felt throughout Australia the miners began to realise that economic facts were against them; arid when the owners threw open the mines and called for men to work them, according to the terms of the agreement Arrived at in November, despite the efforts of the militants to continue the struggle indefinitely, the miners began to drift back; To-dny's information from Sydney suggests that the men tire riOw returning freely, and that the dispute, which has lasted for over twelve indnths; with enormous loss to all parties concerned, is at an end. This; it is tb be the end Of a fcbloss&l folly; which for soirie timfe seemed to endanger the security of the social fabric of Australia. That the erid has been reached is the only aspect fcif a dark affair that will Hear looking at.