The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 8, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4117, 8 May 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, MAY 8, 1876.

After long consideration, the City Council has at length produced a Bill for the re-incorporation of the City, and the measure will be laid before the General Assembly for approval at its next session, so that it may acquire the force of law. It is much wanted. The Corporation, at present, conducts its business under authority of several badly-framed Provincial Ordinances, supplemented by two or three Colonial Statutes, and has frequently found itself hampered by want of legal powers, The City, too, is growing so fast, and has already attained such mercantile consequence, that it seems desirable to re-model its municipal government, and to give it a higher status than was necessary when it was originally incorporated, Being a measure intended for the everyday work of the Corporation, the details of the Bill, of course, require close examination; but the eye is first struck by a provision to meet a temporary want. The Bill empowers the City Council to borrow L 200,000 on debentures, at six per cent., in addition to the loans already authorised. This new loan is to be spent upon drainage works, and is to be styled, “ The City of Dunedin Sewerage and Drainage Loan”—a fragrant appellation, which ought to attract investors. Should it be granted by the Assembly, the City Council will hold borrowing

powers to the extent of 1800,000, made up thus: by the Dunedin Corporation Borrowing Powers Extension Act, 1875, its former power of borrowing L 200,000 at seven per cent, on the security of the ordinary rates was raised to L 300,000, subject to the restriction however,thattheextra LIOO,OOO should be spent exclusively on drainage works and in the sanitary improvement of the City. In the previous year, the Assembly had authorised a loan of LIOO,OOO at 6 per cent., for gaswork purposes, and the borrowing of a further sum of L 200,000, at 8 per cent, for the purchase and extension of the waterworks; authority to levy special rates, to defray the loan charges, if necessary, being given in both cases. The L 200,000 additional now proposed to be borrowed would be secured upon the general, or upon special rates, or both, as the Council might think fit. The ratepayers, therefore, when the whole of the money was raised, would have to pay L 33,000 a-year as ordinary loan charges, while they would likewise be responsible for annual charges to the extent of L 22,000, under the Gas and Waterworks Acts. The latter under-

takings have been entered into on the supposition that they will pay for themselves, and sanguine people anticipate their yielding a profit; still, the liability of the Corporation to provide for any deficit that may occur is a matter which the ratepayers cannot overlook when asked to accept further responsibilities. The L 300,000 which the City Council is now entitled to borrow for general (including drainage) works will impose an annual charge of L2l,oooupon the City funds, whichseems a very handsome contribution to the money-lender from a town of 20,000, or say 25,000 inhabitants, so as to allow for any increase which may take place before the whole of the L 300,000 has been borrowed. That consummation, however, is not likely to be long delayed ; but it is questionable whether it is necessary to anticipate it by granting authority to borrow more money beforehand. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. The ratepayers at present hardly comprehend the weight of the liabilities they have undertaken. The loan charges for this year are estimated at LI 1,000, and an extra threepence has to be put on the ordinary rate in consequence, despite the Corporation funds being aided by a donation of LI 0,000 from the General Government. By the time L 21,000 ayear has to be paid for interest, a good many more threepences may have been added to the rates, and the citizens may then possibly think a breathing time in the borrowing race desirable. At all events, there is no immediate hurry for the money. Drainage works must be constructed, even though the City is unable to afford them; just as the doctor’s services must be engaged when sickness gets into the house, notwithstanding that it is inconvenient to pay his bill. Nor can we pretend to affirm that L 300,000 is beyond the probable cost of such works. But drainage works will take several years to execute; and if the Council will avoid grand engineering schemes, and take heed of the limited length of the City purse, the LIOO,OOO now at its command will enable it to make a substantial beginning; and when that sum is spent, it will be quite time enough to ask for more. The proposal for the

loan is an excrescence on the Bill, and should be embodied in a separate mea sure, "when it could be considered on its merits. The rating capacity of the new Corporation will correspond with its extensive borrowing powers. The limit of the general rates is fixed at half-a-crown in the £1 upon the annual value of the rateable property in the City, while an ominous blank leaves it to the Committed of the House to decide upon the limit °f the special rates. The extent of this .rating power is perceived by comparing .*t with that granted by the Municipal* C o r noration Act, 1867, under which most o* municipalities outside of Otago are in-' ccrporated, namely— two shillings in | \

the £1 for the general and special rates together. The Provincial Ordiflahce?, however, enable the City Corporatioi s to levy rates up to half-a-crown in the pound, so that it has always posseassed ampler rating powers than municipalities incorporated under the Colonial Act. A right of appeal to the Resident Magistrate’s Court against the assessment, on the ground ot unfairness or incorrectness in the valuation, is given by the Bill, supplemented by a general right of appeal to the Supreme Court ; but it seems impolitic to exclude the jurisdiction of the District Court, the machinery of which is so much cheaper than that of the higher tribunal; and the wiser plan would be to follow the Municipal Corporations Act, 1867, by conferring an alternative right of appeal to either the District or the Supreme Court. The rating claims also need correction in a more important particular. They provide that whenever the City Treasurer (a new officer constituted by this Bill) has obtained judgment in any Court of competent jurisdiction for the amount of an unpaid rate, he may forthwith register a memorial, which will have the effect

of charging the property with the amount of the judgment, together with interest at the rate of 10 per cent, from the date of the judgment, until the claim is satisfied; and, should the judgment remain unsatisfied for the space of one month after the memorial has been registered, the Treasurer may apply to the Supreme Court for an order for the immediate sale of the land. This provision is extremely and unnecessarily harsh. It is apparently intended to catch absentees ; and, so far as speculative holders of town lands are concerned, all they can fairly ask is rigid justice. The clauses, however, would render the property of any settler who happened to be temporarily absent from Dunedin, and left his rates unpaid, liable to be summarily sold without giving him a locus penitentice. The Sale of Land for Non-payment of Rates Act, which has suggested these clauses, only authorises the sale of the land after the lapse of twelve months from registration of the memorial; while, further, three months’ notice of the intention to sell must be advertised in the * Gazette,’ and in a local newspaper. It is reasonable to give such warnings, and the Bill would be improved if these clauses were struck out, and a proviso incorporating the Sale of Land for Non-payment of Rates Act inserted in their place.