NO RATES FOR 158 YEARS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 27 May 1925, Page 9

NO RATES FOR 158 YEARS.

END UF IX)XG EXEMPTION

LONDON RECLAIMED LAND. After being exempt from ‘all tuxes aiitl assessments whatsoever” since 1767, certain lands in the City ot Loudon are no,\" being valued for rating. This romance of London rating is concerned with a strip of land running roughly fiom New Bridge ytreet and along the- Victorian Embankment as fni as the 'temple l’ier. it theretore includes many sites of great value, the total amount of which, however, not be available uutil the quinquennia] revaluation becomes duo m Apiu, 1926 Under n n Act passed in 1620, provision was made that this ]and should become rateable in 1626. Hie Act settled a vear’s-kmg contest in the Law Courts and in 1 arliameut. At least £20,000 ’» year in rates may reTo helu navigation in the vicinity of old Blackfriars Bridge an Act o. Parliament.wns passed in 1/0/ obliguig the owners of the foreshore to reclaim the land, which should for ever bo exempt from taxation. Such exemption mav have seemed a litt'e enough tiling at 'the end of the eighteenth cenffury, as the whole strip of land under assessment would probably not have produced more than £2OO. Under the Act the owners of the reclaimed lands were called upon to pay an annual quit rent to be applied to the cleaning and lighting of Blackfriars Brige, which quit rent could be redeemed at 20 year’s purchase. For a long time the strip reclaimed remained nearly derelict. But m l»t>^ an Aot of Parliament waived a fairy wand over it, and in due course there arose the Victoria Embankment. Phis involved the reclamation of more ot the river bank. The improvement was carried out with public money, and the land, thus reclaimed became ’vested in the Metrooolitan Board of Works. But there was’ no provision that it should he free of liability for rates. The legislators of the nineteenth century .were less generous than those or the 18tli!