BOROUGH AND CITY RATES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 215, 9 June 1920, Page 7

BOROUGH AND CITY RATES

. QUESTION OF INCREASES. ■ ; Kates and their incidence are to'be considered by the City Council at tomorrow's meeting, when a. proposal will be mado that the general rote as well as tho hospital' and charitable aid rats should bo increased. Asked ycstordaylt • it wero proposed to consolidate .tho city - loans with those of recently absorbed boroughs (Karori and Onslow), the Mayor ... (Mr. J- P. Luko, M.P.) stated that such . was tho intention, but the process could . not bo effected without special legisw- ; : tion. >Io put forward a Bill to provide ■,; for such consolidation towards tho end ... of tho last session, but it was not ac- ;;; ceptod by the Government and did not •'0 through. One point raised against tho measure was tho possible objection to such a course by bond-holders. Tho forms under which they invested in borough (or city) bonds wore s'pecifio as to tho security, and the consolidation of loans .; altered tho incidence of the security. Tho Mayor could scarcely ' imagine u - bond-holdor of a Karori loan objecting • to hevo the whole of tho metropolitan area as security rather than one remote portion of it, but tho technical point was there, and had to be overcome if .\ tho loans--were '>'l>o consolidated, as ' ; they all hoped they would be. "I think," said y[r. Luke, "that tho difficulty might bo cvoi-cbmo if tho bords were convorted into insonbod stock In ' the same manner as th* Government ' Joes with eomo of its loans. This would . Amplify the whole position, <s it would then only b") necessary to make a book entry of every bond-holder, the extent of his holding, Mid what, interest . ho had to receive. I don't think thero is any precedv-nt for suoh a course as far as corporation loans In New Zealand are concerned, but if it wero possible to brinnr suoh a systom about it would save a lot of work and a good deal of expense in printing, etc**