RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES. Wellington Caught Napping.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 73, 23 November 1901, Page 8

RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES. Wellington Caught Napping.

WELLINGTON stands committed foi the next tluec yeais to the system of lating on the ummpioved values The smgletaxeis thioughout the colony, of couisc, aie jubilant It is the fiist city m New Zealand they have managed to capture, and such a victoiy takes the sting off the wholesale defeat which they sustained up in Auckland a few months ago Still, it is a victory which looks moie like a lucky fluke than anything else. The great bulk of the electors eithei did not tieat the mattei senously, or else weie piofoundly mdiffeient about it • * * Only 1852 electois out of 6700 went to the poll, and the 1291 who earned the proposal against the 591 who voted against it no doubt repiesent about the maximum voting strength of the smgle-taxers and then conveits For months past they have been cany ing on a veiy active piopaganda by public addresses, the fiee and lavish calculation of pamphlets, and letteis m the press Then organisation was excellent, and, as there was no oiganisation whatever on the other side they have pievailed In a mattei where the public were so mdiffeient — the measure of mdiffeience being expiessed m those 4848 uniecoided votes— one need haidly expend much i egret at the triumph of the 1291 enthusiasts • • • All the same, we marvel at this leap m the daik There is not the slightest doubt that the new system of rating will be both grateful and comforting to the wealthy coipoiations and prosperous citizens who own large blocks of buildings from which they are deriving fat incomes in the way of lents. It will be a legular Godsend to the Fat Man, who shows a wonderful ingenuity in crowding the greatest possible number of fragile tenements upon the smallest possible plot of land And, as Councilloi Devme remaiked at the City Council, the other night, ' it will be a grand present to the Corporation leaseholders • • * There is no town m the colony where the dwellings of the people aie so densely bunched up together as they are in Wellington, and yet this, of all places, has suriendered itself blindly to a system of lating that offers every inducement for building high and building close — a system that discouiages the keeping of gaidens and open places Its shibboleth is "Tax only the land ' That may serve a good purpose in bursting up big estates where they are being kept out of occupation for speculative purposes in defiance of the cramped conditions under which the people live foi want of this land But that is not the condition of Wellington

We have too few open spaces in the city Gaidens — even the tiniest stnps — aic a rarity Landloids have utilised eveiy available foot of building giound in most cases, and the lents are staggeimg And yet these fat and sleek and well-to-do people are the veiy ones who aie to be benefittcd by latmg on the unimpioved values "Unto him who hath shall be given, and fiom him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath It woiks out pietty much m that dnection The same volume of latmg revenue will be requncd as of yoie— moic. if anything, now, because two sets of books will have to be kept instead of one — but the Fat Man, whose nches aie m\estcd m costly city edifices or m semed lows of closely-jammed cottages, will be eased off veiy considerably m lates and the smaller men will have to make up the difreience * * * Woe betide the small individual who by dint of haid pinching, and much self-denial has saved enough to buy a building section and is tiymg haid to save some moie to build on it Up go the lates on his vacant section, down go the lates on the ciowded buildings of the big man next dooi However, the people will find out all about this cliaimmg s\stcm in time Having opened their eyes and shut their mouths, they must swallow the bolus now The othei big cities may stand comfoitably by and watch We have consented to let the fad be practised upon 0111 selves When the next poll comes to be taken m Wellington, the public will know all about rating on unimproved values There will not be 4848 unrecoided votes on that occasion