MEETING OF WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 11, 12 July 1930, Page 11

MEETING OF WOMEN

■ A public meeting-'ofy all women- interest i ed in' St. Helens Hospitals-will be-held ' in No. 1 Committee -Roonvat the Town j Hall on Tuesday at ti .pmi....The.,May.ores* j will, preside. ... ..'.-.'.., ;

BETTERMENT. BIUL

(To the Editor.)

, Sii'i —On-the top of the Wellington- City Empowering Bill- of .last .y<:ai;,:-which enables the City-'.Council. .\o bwro.w. , niuiu'.r indefinitely by "special ordor,'";. irrespective, of the wishes of. the.ratepayers, and by which, since the brief time ;o£ its inception, some £187,000 has be'eii" added to the city's debts, largely for works "that could well: have waited "Or been1' altogether omitted, now comes the Betterment Bill — perhaps, after the Empowering.; BiH, the most insidious and dangerous-attack on. property lights ever concocted "by idealistic visionaries. . .... ".'....-..•

Clause I—to1 —to authorise tlie; council to impose -betterment charges on:lan'ds-:bene-fited by "street works," is capable' of almost any interpretation' the:/ Assessment Board, on which, by the wayr the". City Council..lias three representatives.'to one of the property-holder,-,may.. choose to place upon it. From.forming.a road.wheve none previously existed, to';jmpl"oving an existing road by bitumen or "by footpaths, or where space permits beautifying it by. laying-off flower gardens,. rock gardens, etc.> all may' come under the wide interpretation of "betterment." ••-:v :. "• Clause. G contains eight .subdivisions, each one,of which constitutes, a direct infringement -of the . rights- .of- ownership. The Empowering Bill of last _y«ar epabled the council to force a loan upoii ..tKe ratepayers for widening Bpwen street against the ratepayers' wishes, as slipwir by the poll. ■ Now tlie'- council may propose, iv addition to charging . the property-owners along this route, with their share' of the tax for such loan, to eompulsorily assess them for the proportion the • board may consider thfir particular1 property has increased in value.. This share [., is to.be a debt- upon the property all.ected :.unti\ repaid, and to be' registered"'against the fit It

"YVWthii council sta'tc How "this, will'affect the borrowing power . of", the', affected, owner? ' Presuming, as 'is' probable,'- the lieu takes precedence oiV a mortgage, will a lender be liable to favour, a -property which has been or at any- time, may be encumbered with a forced encumbrance oi this kind? Will it,not; prove a serious hindrance to the free interchange of property, which, is the life'-blood-.of- the community':1 To me it seems it-must be * serious impediment . ■ . - ; " I trust when this Bill.comes before Parliament members wiljnbt allow it to slip through with the- perfurfctory and censory examination accorded "to the Empowering Bill of last year. These contiriualattempts on the part of the Wellington Gity-Coun-cil to deprive citizens of- their-property and rights are none the less, dangerous because committed trader the'cloak. of pai'« liameutary Kanction. . ..They--threaten t« create in tliq council a, burea.ucr.acy to limit the right of the o.wner' of nijiyierty to deal witli it exceptv-as -X suppliairt t<i the ■■council.'— I am. etc.. ■ '- ' -: ■•■•■'■

'■••..••: ■.-■■• -.■:•'■ :.-.^;:•>:: X. . ["X" is evidently mistaken in his' refevcneo to the Assessment Board,-which is t« comprise the Director of Town .Planning, the Chief Surveyor . for the-District of Wellington, the City Valuer, and T one person appointed by the Governor-General to represent property-owners. Tlie Director of Town Planning aucl the Ch'io_f Surveyor are Government- oflicers.—Ed.'] ■"' " ■'