RATES ON NATIVE LAND.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1924, 5 December 1913, Page 4

RATES ON NATIVE LAND.

AN AMENDING BILL.

SOME PROBLEMS DISCUSSED. Tho Hon. W. I-I. MERRIES moved that tho Rating Amendment Bill (read j a second time pro forma) bo committed.' He said the Bill was mainly a machinery measure, so far as it applied to the pakeha population. Ho went on to explain the provisions of tlio Bill, mentioning one or two amendments that would he introduced,. The Native part of the Bill had been thoroughly scrutinised by tho Native Affairs Committee. Tho Act of 1910 to enable local bodies to collect rates on Native lands did not seem to have been given a fair trial by tho local bodies. This Bill proposed to remedy somo fow defects in that Act. It did not materially alter the law of 1910, but tlio machinery would bo a little hotter oiled. The only real alteration was that a lien might bo placed upon the land wliero there were unpaid rates. There would bo no sale of the land. It was only wliero a transfer occurred that tlio lien would take effect. A sort of caveat would bo placed upon the land. A Plea for Local Option. lir. H. G. ELL (Christcliurch South) said that the Minister was converting a permissive legislative enactment into tlio that was mandatory. He asked tin"! J-louso to consider whether tiie local bodies should have the opportunity of determining for themselves whether to adopt the system of rating on unimproved land values. By this amendment the Government was taking out of the hands of tho people the power of deciding for themselves what rating system they should adopt in their local districts. The issue before the House was whether ratepayers should or should not be granted local option in regard to rating. Tlio position created by tho Bill was that it ratepayers declared by their votes at a poll in favour of a particular systom of rating they might not bo allowed to apply it to certain rates. The Minister had made no mention of a very important alteration in the system of assessing values for which tho Bill provided. Tho effect of tlio amendment would bo that whore, for instance, the erection of half-a-dozen handsome villas, oii neighbouring sections, added to tho value of a suburban section no account would bo taken of this factor in valuing the section. This was unfair, for it was obviously tho case that surrounding improvements added to tho value of land. The Hon. I). BUDDO (Kaiapoi) said that tho Bill was going back upon legislation which had operated very satisfactorily- for years, and the House should "not accept the alteration without considering it .very carefully indeed. Lands That Do Not Pay. . Mr. G. V. PEARCE (Tatca) criticised tho clauses relating to the rating of Native lands. Tho present position, he said, was indicated in the fact that in tho Hawcra county, where most ot tho Native land was under the administration of tho Public Trustee, rates clue ou thoso lands during a period of tour years amounted to £1555. Tho amount collected was only £4 ss. 2d He was sorry that tho Minister had not seen fit to adopt tho recommendation or a conference held somo months ago and attended bv representatives of nearly all the counties in which there wero Native lands. That conference recommended that Natives should bo placed upon exactly the same footing as l-oropeaiis. with regard to unpaid rates. This would havo enabled a local body to distrain upon tho property of a Native m order to recover unpaid Tatcs. At prosent Europeans had to findtlie money to keep up the roads for Natives who refused to pay rates." In 23 counties in tho North Island tho rates due on Native lands during n ncnod of tl lie years amounted to £46,040. Of this sum onto £12,000 had been collected. _ Mr. Parata: Maoris can't use then lands like Europeans. Mr. Pearco said that tho ratine Provision only applied to lands that were leased. Tho Bill only enabled the local hotlv to put a sort of mortgage on Native lands when rates were unpaid. Ho could not see why those lauds should not be put in the same position as European lands so Far as rating was concerned. In further describing the difficulties now experienced by local bodies in endeavouring to collect .Native rate; Mr.' Pearco mentioned that one count'v spent £20 in collecting Native rates'to tho amount of /Moo, while another county actually spent £G» in collecting rates to the amount oi Eoa.

Pastoral Licensas. Mr. G. \V. FORBES (Huiumii) protested against a proposal in the Bill to p-rant concessions to the tenants of certain classes of land through tho local rates Any such concessions, Jio contended, should be made out of the national i avenue. Pastoral license tenants were granted concessions under tho Bill, Ibis provision, if retained, would mean that injustice would bo inflicted, upon the occupiers of neighbouring lands who would have- to pay more than their share of the cost of roads. Removing an Injustice. The Hon. AY. KRASER said that tho desiro wa.s to remove, an injustice douo in 11)10. Under the Act of that, year tenants of some poor lands in the South Island were called upon lo pay rater, upon a ridiculous fancy va'ue. Tho position of a pastoral tenant was not to be

compared with that of a freeholder. Tlio latter gained h.v the added value to his land when mads and other improvements wore carried out, whereas the pastoral t'.'iiant had no such interest. .Moreover, good roads were very niitcli more importanfc to occupiers of good bind than to tenants of poor-country, where 8 or 10 acres Her,' rc(|liircd to support a sheep. There were Iciiants of "sue!, pastoral lands in the .South Island who paid four or live times as much annually in local rates as ihe.v paid in rent. This, in spite of the fact thai the rent was determined at. auction, and represented tlio actual value of the land.

Mr. I'Virbes: Their valuation for local rates is too high, then.

Mr. Kraser: Of course it is 100 high: Mo added that ho had pleaded far' a clause giving tenants of pastoral lands the right to demand a revaluation. As yet they liad no .such power, and the local bodies would not consent to a revaluation lest they should lose revenue. There was no doubt that a gross injustice had been perpetrated on i'heso tenants. "Marked Progress." Mr. W. I). S. MACDOXALD (Hay of Plenty) said that marked progress had been made with the rating -of Native lands. There woro counties in ids electorate where practically the whale of the rates had been paid. It was true that no rates were' paid in respect of largo blocks of unoccupied Native land, but in this case there was no wear and tear !on roads. It was quite impossible to put Natives on tlio same, footing as Europeans in regard to the payment of rates, but he was prepared to support any legislation that would assist in that direction as far as it was possible °Mr.' J. A. YOUNG (AYaikato) said that, in regard to Native rating, tlio Bill was a step forward. It would assist local bodies which had Native lands in their districts and had hitherto been unable to collect rates upon them. A Clause Dropped. Mr. \V. A. VMTCH (Wangamii) asked the Minister to drop meantime the clause which limited the right of a. local body to select its system of rating, by excluding water rates and others from the operation of a poll to determine what rating. system should be adopted. Mr. Herrics: I am quite ready to drop the clause. 1 want to get on with the Bill. Mr. Yeitch: In that esse I wont go any further. "A Cood Title,." Tim Hon. A. T. NGATA said that the problem of rating Native lands was complicated by the difficulty under which Natives laboured in endeavouring to obtain a good title. Mr. Poarce; Give them a good title. Mr. Ngata (smiling): Well, when you aro Native Minister, you try to give them a good title 1 He went on to complain that concessions were continually, being granted to pastoral tenants under the Grown, whereas equivalent concessions were denied to tenants who occupied Native lands under similar conditions. Most of. the objections of the Native representatives to the Bill had been satisfied, and the portion relating to Native lands would have an easy passage. More About the Maoris.

Mr. C. K. WILSON (Taiimarunui) comeii'tcd upou Mr. Mac Donald's statement that tho position in regard to Nativo rates in comities in his district was satisfactory. In ono of these- counties —Waiapu—tho rates levied during five years amounted to £18,485. The amount collected was £5586, leaving £12,599 uncollected. ■ In Whakatano, rates amounting'to £510 were levied. Tho amount collected was only £20, and attempts to collect tho other £490 had been abandoned. These two instances should convinoo anyone that a position like that was untenable, and could not bo maintained. Ho considered that tho Bill did not go far enough. Mr. 0. PAIIATA (Southern Maori) criticised adversely the proposal advanced by some Government members, that Natives .should bo put on the same footing as Europeans in regard to the collection of overdue rates.