RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11042, 3 September 1903, Page 6

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES.

TO THE BDITOK.

Sir,— When I last wrote I expressed my intention of not writing ' further on tins subject, but Mr Ell's letter, which appeared two 'days later, seems to demand notice. Mr Ell seems to think I have not ' enough' experience of rating to be ableto' express sound views on the subject. The whole matter was threshed out here more than 40 years ago, with the result that we old hands came to the conclusion that and maintenance rates ought' to be levied on different bases \ and frbinmy having paid rates ever' since, and noted the trend of events, I am sure that we were right. Mr Ell says that if the new style of rating would be unjust as regards the repair of m footpath, it would be so as' regards its formation; but he is wrong. The, repair is necessitated by the using of the footpath, -wliile its construction is not. If he and I had "adjoining section's, and there 1 a good house on mine" while his was vacant, it would be fair that both of us should pay equally for the formation of the path, because it would equally give access to both properties; but when it needed repair I, as the user of it, ought to pay for that repair, as he would have, to help to do whenever he built on his section. I used to liye in town, and repeatedly paid rates of £2 per chain of frontage for forming the adjacent roadways and footpaths, and the owners of neighbouring vacant , sections paid the same; but as the repairs came out of the general rate, which was assessed on valuation, I paid more towards the upkeep, which was perfectly just. If Mr Ell had lived here during the ' last five years, he would know that repeated applications have been made to the local bodies, outßide the town, for forming streets in the subdivided suburbs, and that the work has .not been done, simply because the rates on the immediate locality, though levied on houses as well as land, would not cover the expense; and it would be unfair to make people living miles away, who wouldnot tise the streets, , f pay for the work. 'It wotflct -be stillLworse , if the rates were levied on the land pnly, because the funds • for constructing ;. the streets ' would be less. . In;- at least* one case it .was suggested, that^ the,. residents in the locality should form themselves into a special rating district, but they havo not done so. But if the local body had 1 had power to levy a rate at per chain of frontage the work might have been done at once; and I commend the suggestion to Mr Ell and the legislators' who think* with him. The new fad Is* "just of ihose clap-traps which at first sight look ' fair, but are seen to be otherwise when .tljiey are carefully examined. The fact that in ao many places.it has been adopted; only phows how unable the average ratepayer is to reason out the subject. The ; four nlaces in which^ the proposal has been .rejected, viz., Auckland, Timaru, Ashburton, and Petone, all have (like Wanganui) a number of labourers' cottages in their 1 outskirts, and it is pretty evident that these had much to do with the voting. What Mr Ell says of the Wellington rates is misleading. The trifling reduction of a thirty-second of a penny per pound in this year's rating does not arise from an altered basis of rating, but from the fact that either the corporation propose 1 to spend less this year, or the cost is spread over a larger area through the. inclusion of e.ome suburb. The altered, styfe of rating would not raise the value of vacant sections, but rather lessen it, and so would not account for the diminished rate. To put the fairly, Mr Ell should have contrasted the present rate with what was levied under the old system. But the Wellington rates are .levied on capital value, and if this is reduced to rental value the rate is actually 5s in the pound, for under the new system all land has by law to be valued as if vacant at 5 per cent rental value. Mr A. P. Lundon's letter 's not worth reply; It is easy for anyone call "twaddljb" arguments which. he cannot answer, and' otherwise indulge 1 an oersonality. At the present price of .land hereabouts, it is far more profitable to lease it than to own it, and t still -do not believe many persons are 'buying on spec. A. man can hardly make a greater mistake than to buy land and let it lie idle -in the hope of its growing into money, for the !oss of compound -interest makes the investment most unprofitable. It is nearly or quite as unwise as buying ifc with borrowed money, in \v.hjch ,,qase the interest' which haß to be paid is' sure 'to lead, to financial difficulty, and even nltimate ruin I -have seen 5 in' 'quite -a number of cases. If the land which- Mr Lundon tried to buy was in the suburbs, its price did not affect the borough rating, which is the point we are discussing^ — I am, etc., OLD SETTLER. . P.S., 'August 29. — There • were several mistakes in my last letter. I fancy there must be , similar errors in Mr Hughes' .letter, as- it is not very intelligible. He speaks of owners ofv houses paying 1 seven-eighths of the rating, , and those of vacant lots onty one-eighth, but in the instance which he gives there is no such misproportion. He does not seem to have read my letters with sufficient care to understand them. To follow his own illustration, forming a footpath in London Street would not benefit the sections at the lower end of the Avenue, or add one penny to their value; yet the occupiers have to pay' most towards the work, and the proposed alteration in the rating would not remedy this injustice; but if the work were paid -for at per frontage to it it would be fair, and really unimproved value localised. But it is in the business part of the town, where the wear and tear of footpaths is greatest; and so the sections there ought to have the bulk of- the repairs a#-at present. Forty years ago Wanganui -was a poor town, but its people were self-reliant, and paid cash for the improvements they effected. Now they are beholden to the money lender, and so in the long run pay twice or thrice over. The present wrong system has been going on so long that there would be difficulty -in altering it; but the alteration should -be made in the suburbs, ffnot in the -town, which was my Teal object in writing. — O.S. • 5