The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 26, 1910. AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 817, 26 February 1910, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Saturday, February 26, 1910. AN INTERESTING COMPARISON.

At Thursday’s Council meeting the following table, showing the rates at present paid by four ratepayers and the comparative rates if a loan for a water supply were carried, and also the rates payable if a loan were sanctioned for a combined water and drainage scheme. A section in Johnston street is valued at ,£7l, present rates £1 15s yd, rates if water loan only is carried £2 13s 2d, or an increase of 17s 3d, rates if loan for combined water and drainage scheme is carried £2 12s 6d, or an increase on the present rates of only 16s yd, A property in Thynne street, valuation £290, present rates ,£4 rys yd, rates if water loan is carried ,£8 10s rates it loan for combined schemes is carried ,£lO 14s 6d, an increase on present rates of £$ 14s nd. Number three was a shop in Main street, the unimproved value of the land of which is £766, and the present rates amount to ,£ll 18s sd. If a loan for a water supply were carried the rates on this property would increase by ,£xo 7s yd, and if the loan for the combined scheme is carried the rates would amount to £2B 6s 6d, or an increase over present rates of £l6 8s id. The other instance given by the Town Clerk was of a shop in Main street, and also several houses owned by the same ratepayer. The unimproved value of the whole of these properties is £1365, and the rates at present paid total £26 13s 2d. If a water supply loan were carried the rates payable on these properties would amount to £43 7s 4d, an increase of £l6 14s 2d. If the combined scheme is sanctioned the rates will be increased to £SO ys yd, or £23 16s 5d more than is at present paid. The first example above shown is on a valuation of £7l, but as there are 43 properties in the present sanitary area, the unimproved value of which are under £25 each, it would have been better to have started the examples from out of these. We will take a property in Robinson street, the unimproved value of which is £2O. On this section the owner is paying rates at present amounting to £1 os lod, yet if the loan for a combined water and drainage scheme is carried his rates will only amount to 14s rod, or, in other words, he will save six shillings per annum and enjoy the benefits of an up-to-date water supply and drainage system. There are also 64 —almost a quarter of the properties in the sanitary area—the unimproved values of which are between £25 and £SO, and yet there was no example shown at Thursday night's Council meeting of the difference in the rates that would be made if the ,£20,000 loan

were carried. Here is a property in Jenks street valued at : The present rates amount to ,£1 Ss 2d, and if the loan were carried these would be increased to £1 13s 4d, or only 3s 2d in advance of what is now being paid for the present sanitation system and no water. It is within the power of these small property owners to either carry or reject the loan, and in order that they may know exactly how much their rates are going to be increased, or decreased, as the case may be, an example should have been shown at Thursday night’s meeting of the Council.