RATING AND NATIVE LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14912, 10 February 1912, Page 6

RATING AND NATIVE LAND.

Foe the, fourth year in succession the Raglan County Council has collected, all the rates due by its European ratepayers, but as in the past three years no attempt has been made to collect- rates from lands owned and occupied by natives (except native land held under lease or license by Europeans). Owing to the unsatis- ' ; factory state of the law, and until I this is further amended to simplify the enforcement of payment, it is found absolutely useless to place natives on the rate book. The amendment to the Rating Act passed during the session of 1910, instead of, making the enforcement of ' payment easier, \ rather complicated matters and enforces a great „ hardship on the Europeans who have to bear the cost of the whole of the roading of a county. On a fairly wealthy county, like Raglan, this falls easier than on many of the other North Island counties which are troubled with native-owned and occupied lands. But when • one considers that the natives of the Raglan County should have contributed a sum of about £1200 for rates for the past year ib is apparent that some of the other counties, where the area of nativeowned land is considerably in excess of the area occupied by Europeans, are placed in a very difficult position to provide funds for the necessary roading. By. the want of workable machinery to allow a local body,* without delay, to enforce payment of rates due by natives, a very grave injustice is being done to the settlers of the greater portion of the North Island and to the Auckland Province especially.