UNIMPROVED VALUES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20819, 11 March 1931, Page 12

UNIMPROVED VALUES.

RATING SYSTEM CHALLENGED.

NEW LYNN POLL TO-DAY.

A poll of New Lynn ratepayers will be held to-day on the question of rescinding the existing system of rating on unimproved values in the borough. Some three or four years ago tho unimproved system was widely advocated and was adopted by soveral local bodies, but a widespread movement against it has developed during the past six months, On November 19 last the ratepayers of Glen Eden endorsed a proposal to abandon rating on unimproved values in favour of the capital value system. On February 11 Mount Albert, by a majority of 195, decidod to revert to the capital value system and on the same day the Papatoctoe borough mado a similar decision. Dissatisfaction with the unimproved value system has been experienced in Otahuhu, which has had it since 1915, and in Mount Roskill. Polls will bo taken in Otahuhu on March 24 and in Mount Roskill on March 28.

After tho Mount Albert poll the suggestion was made that many voters wore confused by the voting-papers and that they should bo produced in a simplified form. The answer to this is that the exact wording of the voting-paper is rigidly laid down by the Rating Act, 1925, and tho 1926 amendment to tho Local Elections and Polls Act and that no departure is permissible. '