URBAN FARM LANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 281, 28 November 1932, Page 6

URBAN FARM LANDS

AMENDMENTS TO BILL i POWERS OF BOROUGHS WELLINGTON. Nov. 20. < As the result of a conference with representatives of the Municipal Association, the Minister of Internal \ flairs (the Hon. A. Hamilton' has Irawn up a number of amendments or insertion in the Urban Farm Lands -fating Bill, the Committee stage of .v hie It will be taken by the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Some of the amendments are of a purely teehlical nature and others are for the purupose of giving th«* legislation more elasticity. Id order to make it clear that only genuine farm land comes within the scope of the Bill the definition of urban farm land has been extended, ami it is now laid down that, such la ml must be held by a person whose income, or a substantial part of it, is derived from the use of the land. It is also proposed to give boroughs the right to use their discretion as to whether farm lands under the Bill are entitled to special rateable values. It has been represented to the Minister that in some boroughs the incidence of rating may be such that no urban farm lands are entitled to relief, but under the Bill as it stands the process of considering each case ami forming a farm land roll. This will be obviated by the amendment which will make it necessary for a farmer to establish a reasonable case before setting the machinery of the Act in motion. The borough council’s d«*< i-ion is subject to the right of appeal, so the projK-rty owner is safeguarded. Amendments are also being made to meet the case «»f borough councils

which assess certain rates on a different system from that mainly operating in the borough. For example, a borough may rate on the unimproved value, but the amount of water rates that are cloleeted from the borough are assessed by reference to the annual value. The Bill, as it now stands, gives borough councils a period of three months’ grace in connection with an application from the occupier of farm la mis. That is tosay, if an applicant wishes to have the benefit of the reduction over a particular year’s rating, he has to apply before December 31. The representatives of the Municipal Association, states the Minister, recognise that this provision is in favour of tin- borough councils, but they have* conceded that the councils should forgo such advantage. Accordingly it has been suggested that so long as the application is in before the end of the financial year the benefits of the relief should be available for the succeeding