WANGANUI RATES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 108, 8 May 1936, Page 6

WANGANUI RATES

( A PROPOSAL has been advanced (and repeated in this issue a that the City Council offer to builders of homes some of the council's sections at a. peppercorn rent for a number of years. The proposal was first put forward by Mr. P. Tingey, and now our correspondent revives the proposal, so it evidently has been the subject of• consideration for some time. ft is quite true that if more people were induced Io build houses in Wanganui the benefit would be in the rates which they pay and the. utilities which they made use of, plus the spending power added to the community. On all grounds of business then, the proposal looks attractive. ’Why, then, do the City Council authorities hold back .’ Presumably they fear that if peppercorn rents were offered to newcomers to the city, that lessees of the City Council who are now paying commercial rentals would object to the newcomers being favoured. Such an apprehension would be justified on the part of the City Council. It would appear then, that a good proposal is likely to lie not adopted because of a lack of appreciation of where the advantages lie. The advantages would predominantly lie with the newcomers, but witlioni them the burden of the present situation pi-esses heavily upon those who are here already. To give away something for a period of five or ten years in order to secure a continuing benefit would ’ c good business nw ;J| Tin- pri'pc-: 1 ! m-rits further consideration. ’