SINGLE RATE ACCOUNT

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22009, 10 April 1943, Page 6

SINGLE RATE ACCOUNT

RAGLAN COUNTY DECISION RESOLUTION CONFIRMED I The Raglan County Couscil at its j monthly meeting yesterday confirmed its earlier decision to abolish rid- . ing and separate rate accounts, on : the motion of Mr W. J. Lusty. : A month ago, after hearing depu- ; tations of ratepayers protesting j ■ against the innovation, the council i postponed the confirmatory resolu-; tion to allow the objectors to obtain ' views of the ratepayers in various | ridings. Yesterday, after receiving: petitions and hearing argument for i and against, the vote was taken to I confirm the February decision. Again j the voting was 6—6, and the chair- i man, Mr H. W. Wilson, gave his cast- i ing vote in favour of ths motion to 1 abolish riding and separate rate ac- j counts. The voting was: For—Messrs i H. W. Wilson (Vkiingaro), W. J.; Lusty (Whaingaroa), Gibbison (Kar- j ioi). F. C. Johnstone (Matakowhai), | P. Kirk (Te Akau), E. D. Baker (Port i Waikato). Against—Messrs H. Johnstone (Karamu), M. J. Corcoran (Pirongia), R. J. Glasgow (Onewhero), W. A. H. Murray (Whangape), L. C Logan (Pukekawa) and E. Lowe 'Pukemiro). Opinion in the Ridings For the objectors to the motion Mr H. Johnstone said that since last month’s meeting 25 petitions had been circulated in three ridings, and practically 100 per cent of ratepay- j I ers had signed. He considered that, 1 the result indicated that at least 50 j j per cent of the whole county op-j j posed the innovation. He asked the , ' council to defer the introduction of. j the scheme until after the war. It > j was conceded that some ridings were j | at present overburdened. : The chairman said it would be un- | i wise to defer the matter as sug- j ! gested. There was everything to lose ! iby doing so. All county councils j : would have to “put their houses in j | order” in readiness to meet post-war I ' problems, and some of those prob- J j lems would be very difficult to solve, j j He agreed that all the back country) j ridings were overburdened, and an | easement was desirable. The surest! way to do this was by evening up j the rates as soon as possible. ? Referring to a meeting in his rid- j ing (Waingaro), Mr Wilson said the] voting was eight to six, opposing the] scheme. Of the eight one man was | ; not entitled to vote, and he personally had not voted, so that the voting would have been seven to seven.