COLLECTION OF NATIVE RATES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 2260, 20 April 1926, Page 5

COLLECTION OF NATIVE RATES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Your issue o'f Saturday contains a report of a meeting in Hamilton of the Rural Counties' Association. At this meeting one of the delegates said a statement of mine made recently was incorrect and should be contra dieted through the Press. The statement referred to was made by me when the South Auckland members of Parliament met the executive of tho Rural Counties' Association on March 18 last and was to the effect that the new legislation for the registration of liens against native land for the recovery of local body rates was worklug satisfactorily. May I, through tho columns of your paper, reiterate my statement which was made after mature consideration and consultation with the solicitor to the Te Kuiti Borough Council. This gentleman has had considerable experience of the working of the now Act and givos it as his opinion that with the exception of a few minor defects the Act is working satisfactorily. From your report of tho meeting in Hamilton it would appear that a considerable amount of ignorance exists as to the procedure and methods that can now be employed. I do not intend to impose on your generosity - and valuable space by entering fully into the vexed question beyond as! nw the local bodies to give the 1924 J-. . a fair trial and .1 am sure that it will prove to be at least a vast improvement on the old system, if not an entire solution of the problem.—l am, etc.,

J. C. ROLLESTON