POSTPONED A MONTH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 75, 25 May 1945, Page 5

POSTPONED A MONTH

STRIKING OF HOSPITAL RATE

COUNTY COUNCIL'S DECISION

DEPUTATION OF FARMERS MET In deference to the request of a deputation of district farmers representing the local branches of the N.Z. Farmers' Union, the "Whakatane County Council at its meeting last Tuesday decided to withhold the striking of hospital rate until the June in order to give the Union time in which to organise 'its members throughout the Auckland in an effort "to bring pressure to bear upon the rating authorities not to levy the rate this year. The issue, is a debateable one "which has been the cause of continuous controversy since the Man;gonui County Council took its lone - stand against the: Government last _year, and has since been the victimised 'chopping block' because of its lack of support. Tuesday's deputation urged that Whakatane : should follow Mangonui's lead, only in the event of a majority of the « other' County Councils in the Auckland Province doing likewise. The •Chairman Mr J. L. Burnett, con- . 9 i ■ceded the deputants this jioint andj informed them that the Council j would not disappoint them should a be. secured,. It was futile however he said to take an individ--9 *ual stand, which would only lead to ithe withdrawal of the Government •subsidies, and the subsequent neglect of County roads and appurten--auces. The deputation which was introduced by Cr H. C. McCready, comprised Messrs C. Wilson, D. Mikkel* sen G. Hewitt, D. Leather, Johns ,and Dennahy. Cr McCready said that -Tiext month the Council was going t to be asked to make one of the most --momentous decisions in its history, --and he hoped it. would give the full«est consideration to what the speakers had to say. He handed over a large number of petitions signed by over 1000 ratepayers and electors in the County supporting the arguments of the deputation.

"The object of this petition," said Mr "is to remove what we consider an anomaly, and to pass -the onus of action on to you as County Councillors, and the ratepayers' representatives, to see that this anomaly is removed." The wide-ly-signed petition he said should :show the Council the feeling of the ratepayers in no uncertain manner, and the primary request' of the deputation .was-that the striking of the Hospital Rate be deferred one month. They had not come in any dictatorial manner to force their views on the Council. The issue was clear cut and patent to all who knew the' position. To quote the Minister of Finance, 'If a thing was morally wrong, it could not be politically right ' and the ratepayers asked that the Council assist them to put the inequitable hospital rate politically right. Messrs Hewitt and Dennahy also spoke pointing out that the Farmers' Union had secured the petition by way of indicating the feeling of the ratepayers on the subject. Cr McGougan: In the event of the majority of the County Councils not agreeing to the proposal, do you think we ishould still go ahead and refuse to levy the rate ow our own?

Mr Wilson replied that speaking personally, he would say 'certainly not.' The Council had the responsibility of financing the maintenance of the roads and services in the County, and it would be foolish to make an individual stand. A concerted action by a majority of Counties was needed to obtain results, and whilst he admired the courage of the Mangonui Council,_ lie considered it short-sighted to plunge ahead without tactical strength.

A point of great interest to the meeting was a letter from the chairman of the Mangonui County Council (Mr E. J. E. Barriball) which had recently „ been received by the chairman. It stated that the result of Mangonui's stand had been disastrous. The Government had withheld all subsidies and had paid direct to the hospital. The roads had literally fallen to pieces, and he strongly advised against anything other than a concerted action, as the

Government was on the box seat. "Mangonui lias had a sound thrashing in this thing only because the Union did not support them " said Mr Dennahy. "ll' all Counties had supported them the Government would have been forced ; to do something." Cr Butler asked why only the Counties in the Auckland Province had been as-lied to make a stand. Why not the whole, of the Dominion ? Cr McCready explained that the rates were highest in the Auckland Province. In the South it had in many cases remained stationary. Although it had been unanimously decided by the Farmers' Union conference to take action, it had been left for Auckland to put it into practical effect. •'The whole point about this question is this thing right?" said Mr Wilson. "If it isn't, then there is no excuse for doing nothing. If you feel that its wrong then we ask you not to stop if you come up against a brick wall, but to continue to do your utmost to remove this rate. No one. can justify the foisting of the surplus costs of the hospitals on to the land. It simply means that a man is penalised because he happens j to own a piece of land. What an outcry there would be if wTien a man deposited money in a bank he discovered upon withdrawal that there was less than he actually put in. That is what is. happening to the man on the land —his equity is disappearing through no fault of his own. The chairman said that his views were fairly well known. The Council had done all it possibly could by constitutional means to lift the rate. It had called conferences, and approached the Minister and. the Prime Minister. It had given strong evidence before the Parliamentary Committee. Members were convinced that before any drastic action was taken there, must be a solid block of other Counties prepared to take similar action. The position was that' last year the County drew £11,01)0 in subsidies from the and on top of that a special allocation for Galatea, bringing the total up to £13,000. The Hospital levy this> year was £9200, and if they refused to levy the rate the Government would simply pay this sum out of subsidies and retain the balance making the County the looser by £4000. That would be a serious blow to the ratepayers, w T ho would simply be. making a rod for their own backs. If however a. block of other Counties decided to take similar action they might get somewhere and. if the Farmers' Union did that they would find that the Whakata'ne County would not let them down. He would say then, that the Council would agree not to strike the rate until June j and he urged the deputation to let the Council have the information n.s to the stand by othei| Councils as soon as possible. Cr McCready pointed out that though there were a thousand names on the petition, the Union could undertake to get. many more, making it if necessary a 95 per cent, coverage, if the Council so desired. So far they had only met a 1 per cent, refusal. The deputation then withdrew. The Council then decided to circularise all other County Councils in the Province, enclosing a cops 7 of the petition, stating that it was understood similar ones had been sent to all provincial authorities, requesting to know what steps were taken in the matter, and seeking a reply before June 20.