RUSH OF RATES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18877, 22 February 1933, Page 9

RUSH OF RATES.

RECORD DAY’S TAKINGS.

WELLINGTON'S OVER £66,000. iV (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. A record, by a big margin, was set up at the Wellington City Rates Ofilcc, . when 1157,071 11s 7d was taken over ■ the counter, to which is to be added • over £9OOO posted and accepted in lime to avoid the penalty. The total • for the . day was thus well over £66,000, The previous biggest day was tlie last non-penalty day last year, when £44,000 was received. In the last live working days over £IIO,OOO has been paid in at the Rates Office, evidence that if the ratepayer holds back as long as possible he will avoid the 10 per cent, penalty if at all possible. The total rates demanded this year were approximately £509,000, and up till last night £430,862 had been collected, leaving £78,138 to be collected by March 31, which amount has been reduced to-day by the posted cheques -. and notes, £9OOO, to about £69,000. Between the day of the imposition , of the penalty last year and March 31, , 1932, approximately £25,000 was received, still leaving £44,000 in arrears at the end of the financial year. The .position this year appears to be just about on a level with that of last year, for if the same amount can be gathered in by March 31 the sum in arrears /. will also be about the same—that is, \ there may be a total of from £40,000 ■ to £45,000 in arrears. This would be anything but satisfactory in a normal year, but it is not as bad as some prophets forecast a few months ago. Amount In Arrears Reduced. ' in addition to the collection of current rates a total of £21,906 12s 5d has been paid off the amount in arrears since the beginning of the .financial year. The gretaer part of •’this sum is In respect of last year’s rates, but in a good many cases the amounts paid were in respect of previous years. It may lake some time to analyse the position exactly.

This collection of rates in arrears far exceeds the estimate, for at the beginning of the financial year it was generally accepted that the council would do very well if it could collect £12,000 of the £44,000 outstanding. To-day again the office is very busy, for this is the last non-penalty day for many ratepayers, and some may avoid the. additional 10 per cent, if they pay to-morrow. There Is nothing like the rush there was yesterday, however, and for that the staff is grateful, for in order to straighten things up for today’s collection they worked steadily on till 2 a.in. Had ratepayers been a little more thoughtful they could have saved the staff such a tremendous day’s work, and they would also have saved themselves the annoyance and delay of lining up in queues.