RIGHTS OF RATING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21344, 19 November 1932, Page 13

RIGHTS OF RATING

GREAT SOUTH ROAD AREA CITY'S POWERS LIMITED Decision has been given by Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court in favour of the One Tree Hill Borough Council (Mr. Rogerson), in the action taken against it by the City Council (Mr. Stanton), to determine which body has the rights of rating over a certain part of the Great South Road. The portion in dispute lies along the boundary of the Borough of One Tree Hill and the City of Auckland, but is -wholly within the boundaries of the borough. By warrant of the GovernorGeneral, the whole of this portion of the road, which contains various ratable properties such as tramlines, gas pipes and electric wires, is under the control of the City Council and maintained by it.

The borough rested its claim on the ground that, under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1920, it was entitled to make and levy rates on all ratable property within the borough, and that the Governor-General's warrant could not affect this. His Honor said that if the rating power could be varied by a warrant revocable at any time, no statutory provisions would be applicable to enable financial adjustments to be made between the local bodies concerned. The jurisdiction given to the City Council included an authority over the ro<?d tor the purposes of construction, repair, maintenance, and the like, and, he thought, the regulation of traffic, but it did not extend to the power to rate, which was purely territorial and governed by special provisions. In his opinion the properties in question were ratable by the One Tree Hill Borough Council and not by the City Council. Each party arranged to pay its own costs.