MILITARY TRAINING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 128, 1 June 1937, Page 6

MILITARY TRAINING

ARRANGEMENT FOR NEW

ZEALAND MEN

As the, uesult of/arrangements made with the War Office, Major N. W. Me.D. ,Weir, N.Z.S.C., who commanded the New- Zealand- Coronation Contingent, .and. Sergeant W. V. Douglas, N.Z.P.S., one of. the regular N'.C.O.'s; with the contingent, will .remain in England to attend certain- courses with the Regular Army. ,

; The Minister .of Defence (theljon. F. Jones) stated last evening that Major Weir would attend a senior officers' course at Sheerness from the end of May until the middle of August, and would1 then be attached to units of the Hegular Army for a month during the manoeuvre period.

"The senior officers' school," said Mr. ■Jones, "is maintained for the purpose of training , officers who have been selected for eventual appointments to command cavalry'regiments, artillery brigades, or infantry battalions. ,

"Sergeant Douglas,, who was formerly a physical training irtstructor at the Training Depot, Trentham, has" been selected to attend a physical training course from June 22 to August 5. During the three weeks between, the departure of the Coronation contingent and the commencement of the course, .he will be attached to a Line regiment for txainirtg." ,

OWNED BY COMPANY

RATING PROBLEM

Some interesting facts concerning the development of Wellington City wen; given by Councillor M. F. Luckic when discussing, the rating problem at the annual meeting of the Hataitai Municipal Electors' Association last night. Wellington, he said, was, probably one of the most expensive and difficult cities in the Dominion ,to administer because of its coniiguratibn and topography, and so far as its water supply and drainage were concerned. The city was Jaid out by a limited' liability company, which die! not make provision for recreation grounds' in the city area. The only vacant ground it left was the Town Belt, which the company probably found difficult to sell on account of the rugged nature of the land. The city was laid out with streets 49ft 6in wide, each street being ten chains from the other. ■ Wellington was not colonised like any other city in New Zealand. A charter was given to the limited liability company in London for the purpose of. making a profit for the shareholders. The company was formed with a capital of £ 110,000 with 1100 shares of £100 each. For that reason the city was divided into 1100 one-acre sections and the Hurt Valley into 100-acre sections. Every shareholder was entitled byballot to one acre in the city and a section of 100 acres in the Hutt County. Half of the shareholders never xame to New Zealand, and the rents and purchase money they received were astounding." For two corner c blocks in the city two shareholders * received about £250,000 in rents/ : f- "■ The properties wereJlet' on long building leases, and the people who leased them built cheap wooden buildings, -That was one of the reasons for the introduction of rating: on unimproved values. V >•■- ••'. •."•■'■'; Councillor • Luckie /said he was a strong advocate for rating 'onv • "thief annual value. New Zealand and Vicr toria were the only parts of the British Dominions where rating on unimproved value was in operation.'Such, a system was merely an expedient to force the building of the city, and like most expedients it was unsound in principle. The commercial centre of Wellington, where there were a greater number of four, five, six, and seven storeyed buildings was paying much less in rates than it would pay, if it was rated on the annual value.-; :

Unfortunately ? tHejK could not take a vote on the subjec.t;without a petition, and this would b'& a difficult matter to arrange. "As long as you rate on the unimproved value you cannot get greater revenue without increasing the rates," he said.