MUSEUM MAY GET RATES DEMAND

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28542, 22 March 1958, Page 12

MUSEUM MAY GET RATES DEMAND

Property No Longer Exempted

The Canterbury Museum has been assessed for rates, and the Museum Tr(ist Board has been warned to expect a demand later this year.

The board has been told by the Christchurch City Council rates department that the Valuation Department has removed the museum from the list of exempted properties, and assessed its capital value at £132,000. "We had no forewarning of this at all, except a telephone call, a few minutes before the meeting on Thursday, from the rates department.” said the director (Dr. Roger Duff). “Perfectly Absurd” “It’s perfectly absurd. They can’t surely expect that we would be able to pay it “I have not heard of any other museum in the country being called upon to pay rates. Perhaps they are just trying us on. because we are the first of three museum to near completion of major extensions.” The Auckland Museum had an alterations programme under way, and the Otago Museum had blueprints ready for its scheme, he said. The Dominion Museum was Government-owned and, as Crown property, would not have to pay rates. “The whole question of that assessment is under discussion at the present time, and I feel I cannot comment further upon ( it,” said a spokesman for the Valuation Department. He did not know whether the Otago Museum or Auckland Museum had been assessed for rating purposes.