Uneasy Takapuna

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 184, 25 October 1927, Page 8

Uneasy Takapuna

Fears Behind Separation Move RATING ON UNIMPROVED VALUES ’TIIE excision of the long strip of western territory from the •l Takapuna borough would reduce, by considerably over 1,000, the population of the suburb. A petition of one-fifth of the residents qualified to vote must be the starting-point for the establishment of the proposed new borough. This much having' been effected, the sponsors of the separation are prepared in the meantime to await developments.

]yjß. JAMES HAMILTON, who Is at the head of Western Takapuna’s appeal for relief from the heavy rating that is feared, has two brothers in Parliament, and is himself not unfamiliar with local politics. In the petition which he has prepared he already has 216 names, which supplies the required fifth of the total number of voters. If the petitioners are not satisfied with the Takapuna Borough Council’s response to their appeal, they will doubtless proceed to forward it, as required by law, to the Governor-

General. The next step in the process is generally the creation of a commission consisting of a magistrate, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and the district officer of the Valuation Department. If, after due inquiry, the commission presents a report favouring the proposal, a poll is taken, and if the poll supports the project, then the new borough is duly gazetted. Community Interest Subjected to the close scrutiny of the commission, a proposal that is fundamentally unsound is not sent forward to the ratepayers. Such a fate might quite easily happen to the Takapuna proposal, as the territory from which the proposed new borough is to be created is an extraordinary shape, lacking geographic unity or an identified common interest. For a time, at least, the constituents of the new borough would be under the necessity of reaching and leaving their homes by way of the Bayswater ferry and the concrete road laid down by the Takapuna Borough Council. Later, if the secession were effected, the long-canvassed road across the shallows of Shoal Bay

might be constructed. It would improve the access to the inner fringe of Takapuna. and is undoubtedly a facility for which residents in the locality affected are entitled to wait with some degree of legitimate impatience. In other respects an examination of the Takapuna Borough Council’s works programme discloses that the western shore has less grounds far complaint. The main concrete road system, which has absorbed the major share of public works expenditure in the district, benefits those on the harbour side as well as the dwellers by the sea. The drainage scheme, another work of magnitude, has not yet progressed so far that it is serving any large section of the people. Only about 170 ratepayers, of over 2.000. are actually connected. The others are paying the annual charge of £2 5s toward the existing system. Just over £IOO,OOO of the drainage loan has so far been expended, and in the works executed the costly St. Leonard’s tunnel makes distinct provision for the residents on the western side. Rating System Complaints that the western side of Takapuna has been neglected in the borough’s public works schedule are perhaps side-issues to the main grievance, which is a fear that the rates next year may soar so high as to be insupportable. The councillors themselves agree that here the petitioners have some real cause for alarm. Their uneasiness—or the cause of it—was actually foreseen as a fundamental weakness of the unimproved values rating system, which makes uo allowance for the small semi-rural primary producer, of whom there is strong representation among the strawberry-growers, nurserymen, and dairymen of the western part of Takapuna. Designed largely to discourage the retention of suburban land for speculative purposes, the unimproved values system, which comes into force on April 1 next, has had the effect of causiDg a drop in values at Takapuna, where many, fearing increased rating, have endeavoured to sell their properties. At the present juncture it is impossible accurately to foreshadow by how much the rates, collectively or individually, will rise, but men who have several acres of land will have to pay a third or half as much again as they are now paying. A revaluation of all Takapuna properties will synchronise with the introduction of the new rating system, and certain groups of property-owners will probably apply for a reduction in their valuations.

Another factor is the possibility, even a probability, that the borough council will be able to strike a smaller general rate next year. The present council has managed to effect a reduction of administrative expenses, and if it could strike a smaller rate it would certainly soften the blow which semi-rural landholders will suffer next year when the system of rating is altered.