AN ANOMALY IN RATING

Taranaki Daily News, 21 March 1934, Page 10

AN ANOMALY IN RATING

HOUSE PROPERTY CONCESSION. EMPTY LAND PAYS FULL RATES. An . anomaly in municipal rating was given attention at the Hawera Borough .Council meeting on Monday, when the council was considering writing off half the rates levied on. unoccupied houses. Unoccupied sections pay the full rate. Cr. A. K- North pointed out that if a man had a fairly large piece of land without any buildings on it he had to pay heavy rates on the unimproved value. It would pay him to erect a cheap shack,. leave it unoccupied and pay only half the rates levied on the property. . . The town clerk, Mr. H. S. Elliott, said the section in ■ the Rating Act making owners of unoccupied buildings liable for' only half the rates had been in abeyance for years until an Auckland man had taken the matter to the Court, which, had upheld his claim to pay only half. The question had been put to Parliament, which .had rejected amending legislation without understanding. It was hoped legislation would be passed this year which would do away with the anomaly, which did not apply to business premises. . The council’s consideration of the position arose, over a fine point in the definition of occupancy. The council was about to write off half the rates on one property when a councillor objected that it was not completely unoccupied as an outbuilding was let. It was decided to secure a legal'opinion whether this constituted occupancy. WHAREROA DISTRICT NEWS. HELPING'COUNTRY CANDIDATE. A successful flag five hundred entertainment was held at Whareroa on Friday, the last of a series of social gatherings for the Country candidate in the queen carnival. Mr. and Mrs. H. Webber were in charge Of the card games. The winners were Mrs. and Mr. Langdon, Miss Patterson and Morris Gould. The consolation prizes were awarded to Mrs. Meuli, Miss Gladys Reynolds, Mr. Ashton and Mr. W. Campbell. Mr. A. E. Death, on behalf ,of the local ■ residents, thanked Mr. and Mrs. Webber for their help with the card games. Mrs. J. Brown won a competition for a. cake, which was the gift of Mrs. Langdon. After the cards the young folk enjoyed dancing to the music of Mr. and Mrs. H. Steffert and Mr. Shamrock. Miss Fiveash has returned from a visit to Wellington and Napier. Mr*- Mills is the guest of her daughter, Mrs. Lionel Hicks.’ MANAIA SCHOOL SUCCESS. FIRST-AID CERTIFICATES. A; *’ : *• ' -■■■ . * The following children at the Manaia school were presented on Thursday with junior first-aid certificates as the result of examinations in, December: G. Davies, Knid Mackay, V. Sole, Joyce Bloor, Phyllis Spooner, B. Clare, H. Butler, Eileen Rei, Thora Stoddart, Mavis Chisnall, Zelda, Twidle (all honours), Jessie Clague, Margaret Anton, Nancy Barlow, Margaret Instone, 'Joan Evans, J. Laursen, A. Barkla, R. Crompton, F. Bailey, Eva Barkla, J. Jeromsen, J. Washer, B. Sutter, Puki Rei, P.' Espiner, B. Miller, Esther Katerie, Phyllis Adlam,. G. Wells, R. Sflby, D. Clague, Lucy Cowling, G. Putt, A- Borrie, Eric Harrison, J. Gunderson, Joan Hosie, J. Vemor, J. Thomson, L. Adlam, Stella Mancer, Len. Hill. The school did very well in the junior banner competition, tying with Mokoia for third place. “CHEESE-PUNCHERS’ ” FOOTBALL. JOLL TO PLAY KAUPOKONUI. A football match for the Drake Cup, at present held by Joll, will be played to-day at Okaiawa between teams from the Joll and Kaupokonui dairy factories. The Joll team is Williams; S. Cleaver, Rawcliffe, Toro; Robinson, Ormond; Blair; McLeod, R. Clarke, Hudson, Collins, Awahqu, Tito, Tippett, M. Clarke. The Kaupokonui team is Broomfield; Eliason,- Cave, Ingram; C. Whalen, McDdnald; L. Whalen; Lane, Tamu, Schmidt, Wera, Sanson, Mowat, Gargan, Miller: emergencies, backs, Hughes, Jones, G. Whalen, forwards, Winterburn, McKay. HAWERA MYSTERY BAZAAR. BIG EVENT OPENS TO-NIGHT. The Hawera mystery bazaar will open in the winter show buildings this evening as a finale to the effort to raise funds for unemployment relief. Stalls have been gaily decorated and good progress has been made in the promotion of entertainments. Of outstanding interest will be the nightly tug-of-war contests between 30 teams already nominated. All will be bn the board this evening, and as each team has two lives three, nights will be taken up with the eliminating pulls. The final, for valuable prizes, will be pulled on Saturday evening. In the upstairs ballroom this evening pupils of the Margaret Stock school of dancing will give displays of their art. To-mor-row evening a Maori party will entertain on a special platform downstairs, and on Friday and Saturday evenings ample side-show attractions will provide fun for alh Afternoon teas and suppers will be served in an adjoining hall by arrangement with the Hawera Scottish Society and the Hawera Pipe Band, and a feature will be the mannequin parades of new season’s goods arranged by Hawera retail firms. The bazaar will be open afternoon and evening until Saturday. PORT OF PATEA. March 20: Arrivals, motor ships Hawera, Foxton, Kapuni and Inaha, from Wellington. March 21: High water, 3.18 a.m. and 3.38 p.m. HAWERA OPERA HOUSE. “BOMBAY MAIL” TO-MORROW. “The Invisible Man,” the amazing film of H. G. Wells’ book, will be shown finally at the Hawera Opera House tonight. The thrilling mystery screenplay “Bombay Mail” with an express train speeding through India as the background, will screen at the Opera House to-morrow and on Friday. In the cast of the picture is Edmund Lowe, who is starred. The screen play, which concerns the mysterious slaying of a British colonial governor and a maharajah, is taken from the novel of the same name by L. | G. Blochman, who spent many years in | India.