RATING TIMBER LAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 50, 21 May 1927, Page 20 (Supplement)

RATING TIMBER LAND

ACTION BY COUNCILS PROTEST TO MINISTER (From Our Own Correspondent.') TAUMARUNUI, Friday. The vexed question of rating on standing timber lands was brought before the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. K. S. Williams, at Taumarunui, on Wednesday, when representatives of -the Kaitieke and Taumarunui County Councils waited on him and presented the position as it affected the counties for the Minister’s consideration. Mr. G. A. Stanton, Chairman of the Taumarunui County Council, stated that since the alteration in the method of rating had been made following on the decision in a recent Appeal Court case the counties as a whole had lost £IO,OOO, and his county in particular lias suffered to an extent of £2,000. Mr. Stanton put forward a request that the Act be amended so that rates could again be charged on standing timber. Large blocks of timber and thousands of acres of hind were held by large syndicates, and these should contribute to the county rate. Mr. Powell, representing the Kaitieke County Council, supported the claim to have the rate on standing timber reinstated. His county lost under the present method to the extent of £SOO. The Minister promised to confer with the Minister of Lands with regard to the matter of timber rating, and would place the claim of the counties before him once more. The deputation stressed the weight of the hospital rate in each case, and it was pointed out that a large proportion of the Taumarunui body’s rates W’ent this way, while the Kaitieke proportion was set out as about one-third of the total rates. As the hospital was maintained largely in the interests of the timber industry, it was contended That rates collectable on the standing if r Woul(i a J us t offset against the heavy hospital rates.