RATING NATIVE LANDS

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 389, 23 August 1911, Page 5

RATING NATIVE LANDS

! IMPORTANT EXPLANATION

| Mr Jennings, M.P., requests us to ; publish the following, in answer to ; the remarks of the County Clerk or j the Raglan County. which ap | peared in our issue of July 17:—"A? : to rating of native land 3 under Conj solidated Statute, 1900: The Rating | Act gave power to obtain judgment | against native owners, but provisioß ! was made that judgment could not | be exercised without the direct consent of the Native Minister, and tnis necessitated considerable enquiry into j the circumstances of each case before J it was decided that the necessary coni sent should be given, and it was recog-

i j nised that, owing to the variety of ! | the claims that arose, the matter was I a difficult one for the Minister to deal ' ! with. This held til! the repeal of sec- { tions 39 to 102 of the Rating Act, j 1908,. ! "The Rating Act Amentment, 1910, ! fs fairly clear, and the recent controj versy against that amendment led np ; to presumably by the remarks of the j Clerk of the Raglan County Council, i as supplied to the Auckland "Herald," ! and copied by other papers, seems to j have started therein, without giving | the principle laid down under last | year's amendment full consideration, ! Evdently, as far as the printed matter ! is concerned, it is wide of the recogi nise intention of the Act. ! "The position is clear that the local | authority must necessarily insist on | the Valuer-general giving a complete | roil for the district: that is, every I portion of native land should bear j someone's name as owner or occupier, i and then if the number of owners ishould run into several hundreds in I the title, all that is necessary is that ; two of the prominent owners are en- | tered on the rating roll as nominated ; Maori owners, and in the event of non- ! payment of rates after demand, these | two nominated owners can be sued and the judgment, when obtained, will | apply to each individual owner in the j j grant, to the extent of his interest [ on the proportionate amount claimed. | "It is no doubt expected that the j local authority, when a large number of owners as suggested are in the I title, will not take the trouble to collect the amount from the owners, and provision is made in the amending Act that, if the nominated native owners against whom judgment is obtained, pay up the judgment, they have their rights for recovery protected as against all their co-owners in the block. Failing that position being taken up, the local authority can, under section 14 register it 3 judgment on the title, which acts as a caveat and therefore before registration of any alienation can be effected, that caveat—by payment of the amount — must be removed. Going further and asssuming that no alienation of the lands are forthcoming, then the local authority has the power to apply for the appointment of a receiver, under the provisions of section 15, the powers that official is given goes as far as to allow of either a lease or sale of portions of the land for the purpose , of liquidating the liability. "The amending Act in question was carefully considered, and it was ac- J knowledged the position was a some- | what difficult one, but all things con- j sidered, it means that the local j ; authority either yearly or at the three- ; • yearly periods, which is aliowed for j ; the recovery of native rates, can sue ! , for its rights and then caveat the ! . title, so that at some future time the j amounts are recoverable.'' j The foregoing important explann- i t'on of the Rating Act Amendment, j 1910, was submitted to Mr P. J. Mora, j Clerk to the Waitomo County Council, ; - who confirms it in every particular, j ' except that the local authority must : ' sue within two years of the rate being ; : due and not three years. Mr Mora was : ' the first official in the Dominion to ' recognise the possibilities of the new ! 1 Act, and he spent many days compar- ' ing the valuation roll with the County '■ ' rate books in Auckland, with the re- j ' suit that the whole of the Waitomo j 1 County has now been thoroughly dealt j 1 with, and except for a small portion I ; of non-ratable land, the rest has been : 1 placed on the rate book. Where pake- ; 1 has are not on nominated Maori owners ! ( have been placed there. We shall ; ( shortly give the total comparative j ( figures of the new and old rate books, i which will show the progress that j 1 has been made. ;