RATING ON UNIMPROVED Val.

Otago Witness, Issue 2650, 28 December 1904, Page 18

RATING ON UN IMPROVED Val.

ADOPTED BY NORTH-EAST VALLEY i , BOROUGH. i ' • A poll was taken onthe2othin^orth-Easfc Valley SBorough upon a proposal to adopt the provisions of " The Rating on Unim- • proved Value Act. 1886." The .polling 1 booths were the Town Hall, North-Ease i Valley, and Barren's Hall, Main road. The. voting -was confined to ratepayers and free- ; holders, of whom there are about 1300 on ' the roll. The interest displayed in the pro- [ eeedings during the day was :not great, and ath"?4.So ,p.m. the returning officer (Mt T. ' Arnold) estimated that not more -than 250 : votes of the 1300 had been oast. This €st:1 mate was" apparently a iairly accurate one, as when the booths closed the number of ! votes polled was 374-. Of this number 202* ■ voted for the proposal and 172 against, the > | .majority in favour of the new form of ' rating being 30. The poll was taken -in ' Tesponse to a petition signed by 220 persons. The present unimproved value of the borough is set down at £153,976, and thepresent revenue from rating is about £1900. Under the new system it is estimated that the necessary rate will be 3d in the pound, , which will produce a revenue of £1924 14-s. I The arrangements for taking the poll -were ' very complete, and the result was announced ! ! at about 9 p.m. by the returning officer in i the presence of a number of ratepayers. • j Another poll on the question cannot be -| taken earlier than three years from the carrying of the present proposal. The _ voting was as follows: — J Town Barron's ' _ , Hall. Hall. Total. i *or the proposal ... 58 144- — 202 i Agamsjfc ...^ 60 112 — 172 ' j Majority for the proposal, 30.