BETTER POSITION

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20784, 19 April 1939, Page 8

BETTER POSITION

COLLECTION OF RATES WAIKATO LOCAL BODIU RECOVERY OF ARREARS In common with most other part, of the Waikato, the collection of rates in Hamilton for the year ended March 31, 1939, discloses a very satisfactory position, the percentages to hand comparing well with th'ose at the same time last year. Of tlie £74,150 7s 9d struck for rates in Hamilton for the 1938-39 financial year, the collection amounted to £69,417 13s sd, or 93 63 per cent. This shows a slight improvement on last year when the collection represented 93.57 per cent- of current rates and on the previous year when the percentage was 93 per cent. Of the arrears outstanding at April 1. 1938. totalling £6525 Os lid. Hie collection during the ;ear was £-4821 9s 8d or

75.3 per cent. At the same period last year 70.329 per cent, of Hie previous year's arrears had L>cen collected. In 1936-37 tlie collect,on of arrears amounted to 78 per cent. A particularly sound position is disclosed in the Waipa county, where 96.05 per cent, of the total European rates were collected by April 1, aa against 93.9 per cent, in the previous year. Of the £31,758 17s 9d struck only £1252 11s 8d was outstanding at close of the financial year, compared with £3273 3s lod in the previous year. Of last year's arrears £IBO2 3s 3d were collected, representing 55.05 per cent., reprewith 62.4 per cent, of the arrears in the previous year. The rates levied in the Raglan County last year amounted to £38,224 8s 9d and the amount collected waa £35,624 4s Bd, representing 93 per cent. This collection was slightly better thanAn the previous year, when the percentage recovered was 92.3. Of the £3884 5s Id outstanding on April 1, 1938. £2482 2s 2d was collected by March Ji, 1939, representing 64 per cent. A serious attempt was made for the first time to collect rates from the native lands which were revenue producing. The result was very gratifying, a total of £589 3s 7d being collected, irrespective of the figures already listed. Satisfactory Collection A fairly satisfactory collection, which suffered by comparison with the previous year, when the figures were abnormally good, was experienced in the Matamata County. The rates struck totalled £38,429, of which £34,550 was collected by April 1, 1939. The percentage of the total rates to hand at April 1 1939, was 89.9. compared with 92.1 per cent at the same time In 1938. Of the £6201 arrears of 1937-38 rates, £2216, representing 35.7 per cent, were collected. In the previous year 43.7 per cent of the arrears were recovered.

The .Cambridge Borough Council collected £7968 of the £8228 ratea struck for the 1938-39 year, representing 96.8 per cfent. This shows a better position than that at April 1, 1938, when 94.7 per cent of the year's rates were to hand. Of the arrears totalling £IOB4, on the council's books at the end of the 1937-38 year, £336 were collected, representing 37 per cent, in the previous year 37 per cent of the arrears were collected.

in tlie Morrinsville Borough the levy for 1938-39 was £8248, of which £8025 was to hand by April I of this year, representing a collection of 97.3 per cent, against 95.71 per cent in the previous year. At the end of the 1937-38 financial year £662 was outstanding, of which £4 85 was recovered, representing 73.2 per cent. In the previous year 53.6 per cent of the outstanding were collected. Improvement In Arrears While the percentage of 1938-3# rates collected in the Morrinsville Borough was slightly less than that of the previous year, the collection of arrears improved considerably with the result that the total rates outstanding at March 31, 1939, wer# £550 13s 6d against £633 17s 2d s year ago. The rates levied for the 1938-39 year totalled £6142 19s 4d, of which £5797 15s 6d was to hand by April 1, 1939. The percentage of the rates collected was 94.38, compared with 95.3 per cent in the previous year. The percentage of (he 1937-38 arrears collected was 64.49, as against 55.8 per cent in the previous year • Of the £3574 6d struck in the lluntlv Borough during 1938-39, £3342 4s 7d was collected, representing 93.5 per cent. At April 1 last year 91.82 per cent of the total rates l ad been collected, arrears standing at £606 Is 3d. Of these arrears £3OO 6d 4d were recovered by the end of last month, representing 49.5 per cent. By April 1, 1938. 4 4.20 per cent of the previous year's arrears were to hand.

In the Ohaupo Town Board's area £159 Its sd, or 67.6 per cent, of the £235 iss Ud rates for 1938-39 were collected, compared with 55.8 per cent last year. The amount oustanding at the end of the 1937-38 year was £lO5 Us 7d, and of this sum £99 Os 7d was recovered, representing 93.8 per cent. In the previous year 95.6 per cent of the arrears were collected.

A slightly better collection than in tlie previous year was experienced In the Ngaruawahia Borough where, of the £4550 rates struck, £3905 was to hand by April lof this year. This represented a collection of 86.4 per cent, and uf last year's arrears, standing at £1348, the amount collected was £728, or 58 per cent.