CONVENT OR DAIRY?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 687, 12 June 1929, Page 7

CONVENT OR DAIRY?

MONTE CECILIA RATING PROBLEM VALUER-GENERAL’S RULING Prior to the sale of the Monte Cecilia property in Queenstown Road, Mount Roskill, to a religious body, the Road Board received a substantial sum in rates from the estate. Later, having obtained evidence that the convent authorities were selling milk, the board raised a contention that the establishment had been converted into a commercial concern, which rendered the owners liable for rates. On the motion of Mr. G. E. Tansley, the board at a meeting held in January last decided to submit the point to the Valuer-General. The property contains 43 acres and should produce, on the unimproved value basis, £361 a year in rates. At the meeting of the board last evening a letter was read from a firm of local solicitors stating that the sale of milk had been discontinued and that in future it would be distributed among various Roman Catholic institutions in and around the city. Another letter from the Valuer-Gen-eral, Wellington, was also received in which that officer ruled that the school is entitled to exemption from rates on the ground that it is not carried on exclusively for profit, but that grazing land is not entitled to exemption for the reason that it is not, strictly speaking, used for a school. He therefore has instructed the Auckland valuation officials to apportion the valuation so as to leave four acres assessed with the school buildings and the balance as land used for grazing. This is taken to mean that 39 acres oe the 43 are taxable. In discussing the question. Mr. Tansley informed the board that the Lady Superior had agreed to pay rates. He questioned whether the sale of milk had been actually discontinued.

The clerk was instructed to request the local valuation officer to forward his assessment of the property so that the rates could be struck forthwith.