“MUST BE COLLECTED”

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 189, 12 May 1928, Page 9

“MUST BE COLLECTED”

NATIVE RATES AT OTAKI Dominion Special Service. Otaki, May 11. “One of the most serious aspects of the situation in Otaki is the extreme difficulty of collecting Native rates,” said Mr. C. F. 2\.tmore before 1 the Rating Commission to-day. Mr. Atmore stated that the Native lands should contribute approximately one-sixth of the total rates levied —the Native properties comprising one-sixth of the rateable value of the borough lands. In the last five years, £3091 6s. Id. had been levied for Native rates, of which £2651 17s. 7d. was still outstanding. Not even the whole of the difference, £439 Bs. 6d. had been paid, because £B6 had been written off, so that actually only £353 Bs. 6d. of Native rates had been paid in five years out of a total of £3091 6s. Id. The old Town Board, added Mr. Atmore, and the borough yin the first few years of its existence) had treated the Native owners generously, in that the Native rates were written off every year. It was quite clear, from a perusal of the balance-sheet, that those present rates must be collected. The financial European ratepayers could no longer pay those rates as they had done in the past by the imposition of an increased rate each year. It was to be borne in mind that, by the exclusion of lands from the borough (and practically all lands excluded were financial European lands) the properties remaining in the borough had to bear the whole of the burden in respect of Native rates, so far as the general rate was concerned. This burden was additional to the loss suffered by the borough in its general rate, in that there was a substantial decrease between the general rate, based on the unimproved value of the borough, and the capital value in the county. The council, continued Mr. Atmore, had used every endeavour to collect those rates with the aid of the legislation provided in the Rating Act, 1924, but without ranch result. During 1926, on the application of the council, the Native Land Court made 93 charging orders against Native land for arrears of about £BOO. Section 109 of the Rating Act provided that, if a charging order was not satisfied within twelve months from the making thereof, the Court might make an order vesting the land iu tire Native Trustee for sale, and appoint him to collect the rents and pay the rates. Application had been made to the Native Land Court for this purpose, and the Court took one application as a test case, and made an order for sale in April, 1927. Every such order, however, was subject to the Native Minister's consent,, and although efforts had been made by the council to get the Native Minister to deal with the matter, it was still in abeyance, although thirteen months had passed by since the order had been made.

In a statement showing European and Native rates levied and paid from 1923 to 1928, it was found that European rates levied for 1927-2 S totalled £5408 16s. Id., and that amounts outstanding at March 31, 1928, totalled £1052 15s. Bd. Rates levied on the Natives for 1927-28 amounted to £936 17s. 5d., and the amounts outstanding £962 18s. 9d. The outstanding amounts for both the European and Native populations included a 10 per ceg&. ; "