SPECIAL RATES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 25 May 1923, Page 8

SPECIAL RATES

MEASURE FOR THEIR CONSOLID ATION

IMPORTANT PROPOSALS,

Last night the City Council approved of the text of. an important local Bill which Parliament will be asked to pass next session. It is intended to authorise the City Council to consolidate all the existing special loans and to strike one general special rate over the whole city. At the present time various districts are called upon to meet demands for special rates levied because of a special loan raised for work in their particular area. The rates, therefore, are not the same m any two districts, and the amalgamation with the city of Miramar, Onslow, and Karori has seriously complicated the situation.' Under existing circumstances the system of collecting.special rates is cumbersome and costly,, and if the Bill becomes law, the collection of the rates will be simplified and cheapened. It is not likely, according to information given to a representative of " The Post," that any portion of the city will have its rate burden increased to any appreciable extent, but districts such as Miramar and Karori are likely to benefit. The consolidated rate is to be struck as a general fate.

At least one clause in the Bill may be regarded as controversial. It is clause 5, which seeks to give power to the council to raise loans by special order, instead of appealing to the ratepayers, for two purposes: Tramways and sanitary works, the latter as defined in section 22 of the Health Act, 1920. Councillor Bennett last night said that he would have liked time to consider that clause. The principle was an important one, and he doubted whether he could endorse it. He wanted the Bill to go back with a view to having the clause deleted, but as he failed to secure th 6 support of his fellow-councillors, he did not press the matter. It is proposed that the Act should come into .operation on 31sf March,'l924. Therefore, if the Bill is agreed to, this year's rates will not be affected.