RATING DISPUTE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 13

RATING DISPUTE

JUDGE DECIDES TEST CASE CITY COUNCIL WINS APPEAL The decision given in the Supreme Court this morning by Mr. Justice Blair in an appeal case in connection with rating, was of interest because many property holders in Auckland are in a similar position to the ratepayer concerned in the case. Because of that aspect, the appeal was in the nature of a “test” case. A magistrate had held that the owner of of a block of buildings in Queen Street, let separately, was entitled to a refund in rates in respect of a shop which had been empty lor six months. The City Council had refused to make the refund on the ground that there was no statutory power in the Rating Act on which the refund could be made. The magistrate held that the power existed. His Elonour decided that, as the whole building had been rated as the property, and as no objection had been raised by the owner at the proper time, before the Assessment Court sat. the City Council had no power under the Act to alter its rating roll and make a refund at a later date. Mr. J. Stanton represented the council, and Mr. A. M. Goulding appeared for the property owner, Mrs. Edwina B. Hawthorne.