AMAZING ERROR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 12

AMAZING ERROR

A CHEQUE FOR £6O CITY RATEPAYER'S MISTAKE FULL AMOUNT OF VALUATION An envelope that was received by post at the city valuer's office this week contained what is regarded at the Town Hall as the joke of a lifetime. The City Council recently sent out notices of rating valuations of all properties in its district for the 1939-40. preparatory to the sitting of the Assessment Court. Among the notices was one putting an annual rateable value of £2O on each of three vacant, sections at Tamaki which had been acquired last year by a man living in a southern city. On opening a letter the other day an official was amazed to find in it the valuation notice, together with a cheque for £6O Evidently the new ratepayer had mistaken the notice for a demand for £6O in rates and had remitted the full amount of the annual valuation. Actually) if the rates for 1939-40 are on the same scale as last year, he will be liable for only £l4 14s 3d, includ ing non-consumer's water rate, and will not have to pay until nearly ii year hence. The council has returned the cheqm by registered post, with a letter ex plaining the position. It was stated yes terday that a few similar mistakes had occurred in the past, but they had all related to small semi-rural proper ties in the outer suburbs, valued at only a few pounds per annum.