A CHURCH PROPERTY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 8, 9 July 1909, Page 3

A CHURCH PROPERTY.

QUESTION OF RATES AT SEATOUN. A letter was received by the meeting, of the 'Miramar' Borough Council last night from the Rev. Father Devoy regarding the rating of certain church property at Seatoun. The writer said : "I am surprised at this question of rates being again opened by the council. I object to the inclusion of certain sections of land at Seatoun in the valuation roll, claiming it has been exempted from assessment for land tax and local rates as church property. Having duly supported the contention, the claim was allowed and the property exempted. Accordingly, no rates were claimed or paid in respect of the property la6t year. The 'Wellington City Council, once it acknowledges a property as exempt, does not open up the question annually. I have had properties in the city exempted similarly to the above. The claim for which exemption was allowed was based on the fact that tho property is occupied by a church. The Rating Act exempts lands occupied by churches from being rateable property. Services are regularly held in the building erected on the land. The building, though originally erected as a cottage, is .now serving as a temporary church, pending the erection of a permanent structure for the district. As a branch of the Wellington Convent is now at Seatoun, more frequent services will require to be held, which will necessitate tho building of a church at no distant date." Apropos of this communication, it was submitted that the building was not a church or a chapel, but a four-roomed cottage, which could be readily leased as a dwellinghouse. 'Even should a church or chapel be subsequently erected, it was mentioned, the parcel of land occupied by the dwellinghouse would remain rateable. The rates on the land in question amount to £17 7s Id. The Mayor (Mr. C. J. Crawford) and councillors agreed that it was purely .i question of law, and it was decided to refer it to Mr. Martin, secretary of the /Municipal Association of New Zealand. The rates are to be demanded in the meantime.