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Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1642, 23 February 1886, Page 2

The extraordinary stories current about -the: recent pyopertyg tax" assessment (writes a contributor to the Auckland P-lt&affl) show either .tijabnthe former | valuations have been" ndicWously inaccurate, or the present ones are absurdly high. The number of appeals to WeiV*' I^i^^ /I » &% fHp. » fifltfrgV which the owner would gladly take £250 for is pu£ down at £700. In another "case where the property had been rated at £700, the valuer in a fit ot leniency only added a cipher ito that amount. As he said, what Jie stuck on was "nought " to anybody, *hu| it meant something w> the owner. Many of the properties have been valued so absurdly high that 1 the owners are prepared to sell at the Government! valuation^ without requiring the 10 per cent, added as provided by the Property Tax Assessment Act. A Jouehihgj instance; of insect instinct has" just been sent to us. The wiife'r says :^- 11 1 foUnd* cpqkrbach struggling in a bowl of water. I iookhalf a peanut shell for a/boftt.v'ljput him into it, an^ gave him two wood^n'to&Kpicks for oars and left i him. Tjie Jnext morning J visited him, and he nad put a piece of white cotton thread on one of ipic;lc^,.ai|d settU? tooftp^ofcon an encf'fM a signal of distress. He nSd' a hair on the othei' toothpick, and th«re that 'doeS,-. roaoh' sat a-fishing. The cockroach, 'exhausted, had fallen asleep. The sight melted., me vto I had never to chew leather to get a soul ; I waa bora with bneT I took that cockroach out, gave him a; spoonful Si gruel, and left, •■• Thaia|f\uial never forgot njy kindness, and now ray house, ii cook fall of flpqk*