CATCHMENT RATES

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27992, 12 June 1956, Page 11

CATCHMENT RATES

COMMENT BY BOARD’S ‘ SECRETARY ’ The statement about Catchment J Board rating and indirect benefit made ■ by Mr R. Harris at the provincial con- : ference of the North Canterbury district of Federated Farmers, as reported in “The Press” on Saturday, was entirely incorrect, said the secretary of the North Canterbury Catchment Board (Mr W. W. Brough) yesterday. Mr Harris was quoted as saying: “In Springston, after our successful appeal, we were not rated, but we are still classified and can be rated under the indirect benefit clause,” said Mr Harris. “The first we will know is when we get the bill.” Mr Brough said the Springs county successfully appealed against the Waimakariri classification and the Magistrate put the county, which had been classified as E and F, into class G, which was non-rateable. “The Magistrate has signed the classification list and it cannot be altered except in compliance with the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act. If any alteration was contemplated (and it is not) the whole classification would have to be thrown open'for appeals, which would again be heard before a Magistrate.” said Mr Brough. “The list as signed by the Magistrate is the only basis for rating and the latter part of Mr Harris’s statement that ‘the first we will know is when we get the bill’ shows a complete lack of knowledge of the facts,” Mr Brough