The Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1883. CROWN AND NATIVE LANDS RATING.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 308, 27 November 1883, Page 2

The Mataura Ensign GORE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th, 1883. CROWN AND NATIVE LANDS RATING.

Some doubt seemed to ejyst at the last •' niefetbg ,o|^ ; th^ ;i i TtJ*;ui'i\ii 1 B6ad; Board regarding its r ppw,ertp tflt^e Crown and land»,lan4 is .Wje have reason: to "believe tn'Atibtber- 'persons empowered fco make and k»vy rates hive not carep :^ruafe4 tliO A.!:t we mak^ no r4i 'p.fiology: 'ifo? pi -cifig. ""it-ja >alient points reiift'^.' 1 /out K ' r prpmiS4ntiy isa cj^us-. providing; that 5 jill "'Ctqyri and Nat|vb, lands, together %nd. improvements i ' r 'teioni,,-,|»hall,;.bo ) rateable.property jJi^iQWing -.amongst othei? ekceptions :— jf3&Hfidii occupied by Government schools, i* ort° ;I WI. &s£;, Qpilege' J ; : ;or.'' .^univ^rsitj,--fti^tu?'!%sviluna,' prisoft,V hos ; jinatitution ■ j , railwayaivwifway jstatiiohs, and all la6dff and. buil^g? °^ which the Bame are cdnßtmtiedt or tbat may be connected . :^' J^-, therewith;; : public parks, ;a4pniain% ,pr plantation rerjSTefi^efl;; Crown or Native lands of ' : wh^ch c thei;e ; iß ; an owner other than the, iTireasurer, ; or 'an occupier i ? a w^jiiiftbern)eamng of the Eating Act,

under that Act ; Native lands situate more than five miles from any public road oy.lnghway open for horse traffic. These are not all the exemptions, but;the. remainder would npt apply to the Mataura district, in which there exists a very considerable area of which the Colonial ' Treasurer is deemed to be owner. The Property Tax Commis" sioner is to be the sole judge of whether lands are rateable under the Act under review, and after a demand has been made on the Treasurer through Mr Spebbt the rates are to be handed over to the local bodies. ]tfow comes the rub : the first rates under the Act were to be for the year ending March 31 * 1883, and they were to ; be j payable on the basis of the first valuation rolls which the Property lax Commissioner is directed by the Eating Act of 1882 to deliver, but were not to be deemed to be due by the Co'onial Treasurer to the local body until such* rolls had been delivered. Now, in the case of the Tuturau Road Board, and we believe of other bodies in this district, the rolls were delivered as far back as April of this year, and although Mr Sperkt in every case stated that a schedule of lands on which the Treasurer would pay rates would shortly follow, that schedule has not yet turned up. Deprived of their subsidies, generally heavily encumbered by debt, with little more revenue than will pay interest and working expenses, the Boards' lot is not a happy one, and they are naturally anxious to obtain the rates that the Treasurer by Act is compelled to pay. We hope soon to hear that payment. of the rates in question has been made not only to the Tuturau Road Board, but to the other Road Boards, and the various Town District Boards in this district. The Government sets a bad example to other ratepayers by its dilatoriness.