HARBOR RATES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16376, 25 June 1927, Page 13

HARBOR RATES

BENEFIT OF THE REBATI

Does it pay a person working on bank overdraft to take advantage of the 5 per cent, rebate that is being allowed by the Harbor Board to those who pay their rates by June 30? This is a question that has been much discussed by the farming community lately. A person liable for the'sum of, say, £IOO. is* called upon to pay only £to by June 30. If he is obliged to obtain bank accommodation for the amount, this, at 7 per cent., will cost £o Os lid for the , r 4 mouths up to the middle of December, when the 10 per cent, penalty on unpaid rates is imposed. Therefore, in that period, a person paying by dune 30 gains the difference between £5 and £3 Cs lid—that is £1 19s id. It will be seen that this gain during the 5£ months is equivalent to the rate of about 4 per cent, per annum. Persons taking advantage of the June discount save the board from incurring 7 per cent, bank overdraft interest, which otlieiwisc must automatically increase the amount of the rale to be collected in the following year.

Persons who are in the fortunate position of not having to borrow from the bank for the purpose of securing the board's 5 per cent, rebate actually benefit at the rate of about 11 pec cent, per annum on the above basis.

In tho case in the Wellington Supreme Court yesterday in -which a member of the Dairy Board is proceeding .against the New Zealand Dairy Produce Exporter Newspaper Co., to recover £200(1 damages for alleged libel arising from certain articles in the paper, plaintiff in the course of evidence corroborated counsel's statements (published in our .">rd edition yesterday.) He said when he was approached in Wellington by a newspaper reporter regarding the text of a cable message from London, the reporter seemed to have knowledge of its contents. When he found <m returning to lnvercargill thaC the information had been divulged he gave his copy of the cable to the local papers. Witness did. not know how many of the board members were anti-controllers. He had informed the Southland people ho obtained his information firsthand. He had nothing to do with the Free Marketing League. The hearing was unfinished.