CHURCH TO PAY

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1936, Page 3

CHURCH TO PAY

OVERDUE SCHOOL RATES. SYDNEY, May 26. Catholic Church # authorities have agreed to pay approximately £BOOO to the City Council in respect of overclue school rates. This information was given to City 'aldermen yesterday when the council Was discussing rates oil church' pro'perties. The debt represents the .-aggregate amount in rate arrears owing on 19 Catholic Church schools, some of them dating back to 1917. , The time to be allowed for the discharge of the debt was all that remained to he settled, explained the Lord Mayor. “Then I hope the first payment is not before the next two years,” interjected Alderman Carroll. . The council was debating a rescission motion concerning the. rates in .question introduced by the Labour aldermen. . It sought to revoke an earlier decision giving the Town Clerk authority to collect the disputed rates. Alderman Tresidder n amed: the council of its liability to pay '> back £50,000 plus interest to other schools, if the. outstanding £BOOO, was not cob lected. Extreme poverty and the consequent inability of the schools in ‘ dispute t > meet the debt was the main argument for the rescission motion. It was defeated by 10 votes to 8.