King Country Chronicle Saturday, November 5, 1910. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 309, 5 November 1910, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Saturday, November 5, 1910. TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Rating Amendment Bill circulated on Tuesday night, and emanating from the Native Minister's department, contains, as might be expected, a mixture of good and weak points. Its most valuable features are the clause enabling one or more owners of land held in common liable to be sued for rates on behalf of the rest of the owners, and the further clause making the land itself liable, in the last resort, for the amount recoverable. Provision is made also for an owner to pay the rates on behalf of his coowners and recover the various proportions from them. The weakness lies in the proposal that Maori Land Boards shall not bo liable for rates in excess of the amount received from the land, and while at sight it appears equitable to exempt such boards, in face of the fact that large areas of land have been tied up by the boards, giving no return to native owners and

no satisfaction to would fae occupiers or owners, it certainly seems necessary that no exemption should Be~aik>wed, but that the necessity to pay rates should act as a stimulant to putting the land into active use, whether by Maori or pakeha does not much matter. The Bill speaks of exempting natives in "indigent circumstances" from liability to pay rates. No European man or woman, owning a few or many acres of land, is treated by the law as in "indigent circumstances." No County Council could afford to open the door to such a specious plea. If it did, the abuses would paralyse the working of the Rating Act. And no exemptions should be allowed to native owners. Each year settlement is extending: the white man's burden, in a very real sensp, has been in the metalling and upkeep of roads, often running alongside or close to unoccupied native lands. These roads are improving the value of the lands, and whether occupied or not, whether the owners are indigent or wealthy, the lands should be liable to rates in each and every case. The Bill is a useful one: it

contains some good features; and what is now wanted is a strengthening of the weak points, and it will then go far in the direction of reducing the injustice and hardship under which the hard-working settlers ot the King Country exist.