RATES ON STATE HOUSES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23051, 20 June 1940, Page 2

RATES ON STATE HOUSES

LOSS TO W AIMAIRI COUNTY LARGE SUM WRITTEN OFF Rates amounting to some thousands of pounds have been written off by the Waimairi County Council in respect of Government property in the county, according to a statement made to the council last evening by the actingcounty clerk, Mr C. M. Moody. The council adopted the report of the finance committee showing that at ( present £947 in rates* was outstanding on 10 properties in Northcote. Mr H. Kitson, chairman of the finance committee, said that the arrears in Northcote seemed to be very hard to collect. In some of the properties the equity was so small that it would not pay the council to sell the owners up. If action were taken under a judgment summons in terms of the committee’s recommendation, it would be necessary for the council to show conclusively that the owner had the money to pay. and evidence was hard to get in sufficient detail. Mr Moody said that in any case it was not possible to take action under a judgment summons for the recovery of rates. The only step was to sell the property. Mr W. G. Chapman: It is Government land, so we can’t sell. The council had been trying for a long time to bring pressure to bear on the Government, said Mr Moody. Letters were written to the Government two years ago, but no reply had yet been received. “We should find out definitely from the Government whether people in government houses are to be allowed to stay there when they do not pay their rates,” said Mr Moody. “We have lost several thousand pounds over it already.” Messrs J. Liggins, Kitson. and Chapman were appointed to wait on the State Advances Department to have the position clarified.