RATING QUESTION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23093, 4 November 1949, Page 4

RATING QUESTION

Sir, —Two letters on the rating question have appeared in recent issues of the Herald, the one signed by Mr. D. C Black and the other "R.U.V.” The former does not deal with the pro’s and con’s of the rating system but introduces other matters which have nothing to do with it- Action can be taken in the direction indicated by Mr. Black whichever of the rival systems of rating may be in force at the time. The letter by “R.U.V.” calls for comment because it voices a popular fallacy which has misled many in the past including myself, and will continue to mislead those who fail to examine the practical effects of the unimproved value system. It must Ire obvious that the severity of the rate burden depends entirely upon the proportion cf the total

or productive value that is rateable. In the Cook county this will be found to vary from 20 per cent or less to as high as 70 per cent, or more and this will be the case, more or less, in every riding according to the type of land concerned. The low rates occur in the hill country, often held in large and profitable sheepruns, the high percentages in the highly valued flat lands farmed for the most part in small holdings. The implication from Mr. Steele's remarks to the Harbour Board as quoted by “R.U.V.” is that these small farmers are the men who have been sitting back and failing to develop their holdings, whereas we all know that they include many of the most progressive farmers in the county and the most industrious. As regards the harbour rate, it is not likely that the board has forgotten the matter: more probably it appreciates the fallacy of the U.V. system and realises that its adoption would just about double the burden on scores of farmers already grossly overloaded with county rates while reducing almost to vanishing point the contribution from many thousands of acres of the hill country, and this without a shadow of justification. True, the harbour rate is small compared with the county rates, but so was the last straw light by comparison with the total load, yet it broke the camel's back. C. H. WILLIAMS