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Southland Times, Issue 1620, 16 August 1872, Page 2

The Roads Ordinances under which the election of Road Boards throughout the Province io »aw proceeding, have only recently been brought mio ooeration, and have hitherto received little awcuiiou from the public. As it is of considerable importance that they should be generally understood, we think the following account of their leading provisions may be of interest. The Otago Eoads Ordinance, 1871, and the Amendment Ordinance, 1873, Contain together 220 clauses- The Province is divided into 46 Districts, for each of which a Eoad Board ia to be elected. On the election of a Board for any District, all previous Provincial legislation on this subject ceases to have effect within such District. The electors are the owners or occupiers of rateable property within the District of the annual ! value of £10 and upwards. After the Boards have been brought into operation, a valuation, and from it a list of voters, is to be made out for each District. For the first election the right to vote is to be determined by a reference to the electoral roll, but it does not appear clearly that persons possessed of the requisite property qualification would be precluded from voting because their names were not upon the electoral roll. Each Board consists of six members ; but if a District be divided into Subdivisions, then each Subdivision returns three members to the Board, elected by the voters holding or occupying property j within such Subdivision. The InvercarI gill District, for instance, contains three i Subdivisions, each of which returns three members to the Board, which thus consists of nine members. The qualification |of voters, as we have already stated, i is the possession or occupation of rateable I property within the District of the annual | value of £10 or upwards. In respect of this qualification an important principle has been introduced. Property of an annual value exceeding £10, and under £50, confers the right to one vote for each member of the Board, or when the District is divided into Subdivisions, for each member for the Subdivision where the property is situated. But property of an annual value of £50, and under £100 gives two votes ; £100 and under £150, three votes. By a ridiculously careless oversight nothing is said about property of annual value from £150 to £200, but according to the provision just described, such property would also confer three votes; £200 and under £250 gives four votes; £250 and under £500 gives five votes ; £500 and upwards gives six votes, which appear to be the maximum allowed to one voter. In passing, we may remark that the slovenly manner in which this section is expressed in the original Ordinance, and altered in the Amending Ordinance, is simply disgraceful. So much for the qualification of voters. The Boards once constituted, members hold office for three years, one-third of the number retiring every year. The duties of the Boards are of course to make and maintain roads and bridges in the District, and for this purpose very extensive powers are conferred, in a series of provisions into the details of which we need not now enter. It will be more interesting to explain how the requisite funds are to be provided. Exclusive of grants of public moneys, they are to be obtained from three sources — Bates, Toll-gates, and Loans. As the Toll-gates and Loans, in this part of the Province at least, may be looked on as belonging rather to the future than, the present, w© confine our remarks to the more immediately interesting question of Bates. Eateable property is described as " all lands, tenements, and hereditaments." Crown lands, and lands used for public, charitable, or religious purposes, are excluded, and, by implication, land occupied by pastoral tenants of the Crown. By the Highway Boards Empowering Act, however, Crown lands held under the Southland Waste Lands Act, 1865, by pastoral tenants, may be rated, to one-half of the annual value, but this Act has not yet been brought into operation in this Province. Lands held under the Otago pastoral tenure would be exempt. The rates are to be levied on the annual value of the rateable property in the District, according to a valuation made under the direction of the Board. The amount of the rate is not to exceed one shilling in the pound of the annual value of the property rated. But in addition to the general rate for each District, special rates may also be levied, either in the whole of the District, or if there be Subdivisions, for one or more of such Subdivisions. These special rates are nofc to exceed the amount of one shilling in the pound on the annual value of the property rated. The occupiers of property are liable for the rates. But when the property does not exceed £10 in annual value, or is let to weekly tenants, then the owner, and not the occupier, is liable. The rights of owners under leases made prior to the " commencement," whatever that may mean, of the Ordinance, in which it may have been stipulated that the rates are to be paid by the occupier, are not interfered with. The valuation on which the rates are calculated, is to be I

made within three months after the constitution of the District, by persons appointed by the Board. The valuation is to be computed at the net annual value to let of the property, after deducting the usual tenants' rates and taxes, cost of repairs, maintenance, and insurance. In the case of property which has not been improved by building, cultivation, or enclosure, the capital value is to be computed, and the annual value calculated at the rate of fiye per cent, on such capital value. Objections to valuations must be delivered in writing to the Clerk of the Board within a month after the rate is made, and such objections are to be heard by the Board at a special meeting, when the Board may amend the valuation. New districts, containing an area of not less than fifteen square miles, may be constituted on the petition of a majority of electors of such district, and such petitions may be signed by proxies, a form of which is given in the third schedule to the Ordinance. No voting by proxy is provided for, as seems to have been supposed. There are of course many other provisions ; but the account we have given ! includes all those of interest or importance. The nature of the Ordinances will doubtless be more generally understood by and by, when the pockets of the ratepayers have been dipped into a little. In the meantime, as the powers of the Boards are somewhat extensive, and only one-third of the members retire ( each year, the necessity of takiag some , interest in the elections will be obvious to all who possess property liable to be rated, or who may be affected by the manner in which the rates collected are expended.