RATING SYSTEM IN THE WAIPAWA COUNTY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5422, 1 July 1879, Page 3

RATING SYSTEM IN THE WAIPAWA COUNTY.

Sir,— The, t management, or what is more appropriate, the mismanagement of f.the Wajpawa Cqunty Council, has for some : considerable time been justly made .the subject of general criticism. A wealthy county like Waipawa, with such large re- . sources, such remarkably bad roads, and' its funds to be in such an impecunious condition, presents, to the pnblio a problem . the solving of which is a matter of great interest. A few days ago I called at the Tahoraite Hotel, and there inspected the valuation list for the Danevirk Road Board district. In doing so I found; that a large: tract of fertile country, 25,632 acres in extent, owned by two sheep-, farmers, comprising the clearings known as Mataiwi, Oringi, and a portion of Tahoraite Block No. 1, being some of the finest agricultural land in the province, available for cropping at any time, the ratable value being set down at £740, or about 7d per acre. I also found that the Small Farm Settlement adjoining, containing 1974 acres, with soil equal in quality, and which is covered with dense bush, requiring an outlay of £4 per acre before " it is a» available for cropping as the clearings alluded to, rated at 9d per acre, or something like £900. If this cau-be taken as a specimen of the Waipawa County rating system, and the old adage accepted as correct that " the human race are like the fishes in the sea, the larger living upon the lesser," then the problem Beemg,-' quite clear. The misfortune under which the Waipawa County labors is, that the "small fry " : are riot sufficiently plentiful . to support the, modern " CrusoeßjV whose name is legion, as comfortably as they could desire, or in othar words, there are hot sufficient small settlers in the Waipawa County to levy taxes upon, to uphold the. machinery, and maintain the public works of the county and allow the innocent sheepf armors to go scot-free;, hence the difficulty. From a knowledge , of the quality of the land rated, and the rates that, have been struck, I have little hesitation in characterising the. valuation of the Danevirk Road Board district, as a piece of the most barefaced iniquity that has been presented to the public during fhe present century, and I cannot possibly conceive how any man could solemnly declare the valuation in question to be a just and correct one. — I am, &c, W.B. June 30fch 1879. *