CITY AND SUBURBS.

Evening Star, Issue 12927, 25 September 1906, Page 4

CITY AND SUBURBS.

FROM A DRAINAGE POINT OF VIEW; rNSTOUCTTVE FIGURES. At the Conference last night between the Drainage Board and the delegates from suburban boroughs, Mr Peter Duncan brought forward a proposal to the effect that from a given dato next year the Drainage Board shall consist of ten members, five to bo elected by the City and one each by North-east Valley, Maori Hill, Roslyn, Mornington, and St. Kilda.

Mr t Scott said that ho did not think there was tb* slightest chance of this being accepted by the Boarrl or adopted by tbe City. He would like to quote a few figures in order to show the position. The annual payments m rates were as follow: North-east Valley, ,£350 19s; St. Kilda, £294 6s 4d; Mornington, £419 9s; Maori Hill, £77 14s; Boslyn, £387 17s 4d—a total of £1,530 5s 8d; and tbe annual payment in rates by the City was £9,682. On the annual value Dunedin is 80 per cent, and the suburbs are 20 per cent, of the whole district. Of the annual contribution, Dunedin pays 86£ per cent., and' the suburbs pay 13£ per cent, of the whole amount at present. By resolution the Board have at the request of tbe local authority altogether exempted from rating for this and previous years the Tindernoted areas:—Borough of North-east Valley, 2,860 acres out of a total of 3,980, so that only 1,120 acres, or 28 per cent., of the North-east Valley is rated—i.e., a little over one-quarter of the whole area; Borough of Maori Hill, 3,440 acres out of a total area of 3,700, so that only 260 acres, or per cent., of Maori Hill is rated—less than l-12th of the whole area. And, further, the population of the suburban boroughs is less than 30 per cent, that of the whole area. These figures were, he thought, conclusive. Tbe Chairman (Mr Burnett) said that this representation question was new matter, and not fairly before the meeting, and he ruled that it could not be discussed.