URBAN FARM LANDS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3444, 12 November 1932, Page 4

URBAN FARM LANDS

RELIEF FOR RATEPAYERS. BILL TO BE INTRODUCED. The object of the Urban FarmLands Bill, which is shortly to be introduced into the House of Representatives by the Government, is to afford relief to occupiers of farmlands by means of a system of differential rates. The scheme will involve a classification of lands. It is understood that the Bill will provide that all property liable to be rated by a borcugh council may be classified. The Governor-General will be given power to appoint commissions to consider cases of hardship. It is believed that land will be divided into three classes —urban farm-lands that have no prospective or potential value for building purposes; urban farm-lands that have a prospective or potential value for building purposes; and all other rateable property. Following' the classification, it will be the duty of the Commission to provide a provisional scale of differential rates. Ratepayers in the districts! affected will have the right to for- i ward objections to the Commission. The Bill will probably make special provision for the determination or amendment of classifications. The question fo giving relief to occupiers of urban farm-lands has been under the consideration of the present Government and past Governments for some years. Under the Reform Administration a Ccmmission consisting of Mr. R. M. Watson, S.M., Mr. W. T. Strand, Mayor of Lower Hutt, and Mr. W. Nash, then secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party, was appointed to inquire into the whole question, and it is on their report that the legislation has been framed. A Bill was introduced in 1929, but was not proceeded with.