BIG PERCENTAGE OF MAORI RATES COLLECTED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22620, 24 April 1948, Page 4

BIG PERCENTAGE OF MAORI RATES COLLECTED

(S.R.) TE PIIIA, April 22. Considerable satisfaction was felt by YVaiapu County Council members with a report on rate collections submitted at yesterday’s monthly meeting of the council by the clerk and treasurer, Mr. J. H. Sutherland, who stated that the percentage of the current year’s rate collected was 95.7, and the total amount paid by ratepayers £34,701 —the highest figure covered by records kept in recent years. Payments by European land-owners in the county represented 99.6 per cent., Mr. Sutherland stated, while Maori ratepayers had established a percentage of 88.7. The latter figure was approximately the same as the previous year, and reflected the excellent co-operation by Maori land-owners and the Maori Affairs Department. Arrears of Maori rates collected totalled £1543 and in addition court costs recovered amounted to £67. “The Waiapu County,” stated Mr. Sutherland, “with 73 per cent. Maori population can justly claim the highest percentage of Maori rate collection in the Dominion among counties with a predominantly Maori population." The council adopted the report with expressions of appreciation of the clerk's efforts and to land-owners for their promptitude in the payment of rates.