Stand On Rates Supported

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30405, 2 April 1964, Page 3

Stand On Rates Supported

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, April 1. Mrs O. F. Rabone, of Remuera, spent this morning answering telephone calls from people congratulating her on her stand over rate demands.

In a letter considered at a meeting of the Auckland City Council on Tuesday night Mrs Rabone, a widow, said she intended to pay no more than £3O a year in rates. She protested against what she described as the unjust situation of ratepayers on low fixed incomes being called on to pay for rising costs caused by the high standard demanded by the rest of the community. After discussing Mrs Rabone’s letter, the council decided to ask Parliament and the Municipal Association to give urgent attention to ways of relieving the rate burden on elderly people, widows and pensioners. “Ratepayers on low, fixed incomes are being called on to pay for rising costs caused by the high standard demanded by the rest of the community,” said Mrs Rabone in her letter.

“They are also being called upon to pay for amenities regarded necessary by a modern, prosperous city—for instance, the Mangere internation jet airport, the proposed civic administration building, modern interior decoration, library schemes, and others. “These projects are not suitable to the way of life of a careful pensioner, yet add to his rates,” she said. Mrs Rabone, a widow for

10 years, said today she had made it clear ip her letter that she was not incapable of paying her rates (between £35 and £37) but was taking a stand against “a criminal situation.”

“Many elderly people in Remuera are in a desperate situation,” she said. The land was becoming too valuable to live on and people who had lived there for 40 years were being forced to look for somewhere cheaper to live. Mrs Rabone, who has four children, aged between 11

and 19, said she had been on the telephone all morning. She said she had heard of many tragic cases. “This is happening all over Remuera,” she said. “People have planned to spend a quiet retirement and are having their peace of mind attacked by these heavy rates.” They were being “chivvied” off the land, she said. Mrs Rabone’s husband, an Air Force pilot, was killed in a flying accident in New Zealand 10 years ago.