BOROUGH RATES

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1925, Page 2

BOROUGH RATES

LEGAL ACTION TAKEN. Receipts for rates paid are valuable documents, and should; be guarded as such. Their loss may lead to unpleasant consequences.' The truth of this was illustrated at the Magistrate’s Court to-day, when the Greymouth Borough Council sued George Groom for rates amounting to £7/4/9 in respect to the year ended' March 31, 1924! '■ ( > Defendant said that the account had been paid, but the receipt had been mislaid. ‘/Have you any proof of payment?” asked the Magistrate (Mr. W. Meldrum). Defendant produced a receipt for his rates in 1925, and said he was positive those for 1924, which the Council claimed, had been paid. He had been baching at Reefton, and might have mislaid the receipt there. He paid in cash. Mr. J. W. Hannan, for the Council said that there was no trace in the Borough books of a receipt having been issued. Cyril Edgar Heaphy, clerk to the Council, said that receipts were always made out in duplicate. Defendant had not paid his rates for 1924. Defendant asked why he was not notified regarding the arrears when he paid the 1925 rates. Witness explained that the Council could demand only one year’s rates on one account. Moreover, many ratepayers delayed their payments until the last possible date, and there was then no time to look up arrears. In the absence of proof of payment, the Magistrate gave judgment for the Council, for £7/4/9, with costs £2 6/-. Judgment was also obtained by the Council against the following defendants, who did not appear: Sophia M. McGrath, £ll/15/1 (costs £2 14/-); Elizabeth M. Robertson; £2l 16/- (costs £4/1/6); Miss Bahay Saraty, £9/15/6 (including costs); Bahay and A., E. Saraty, costs only, £l/10/-; Mrs. M. Morrisey, £9/6/10 (costs £l/10/6).