ROSKILL RATEPAYERS ARE NOT UNANIMOUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 606, 7 March 1929, Page 7

ROSKILL RATEPAYERS ARE NOT UNANIMOUS

MEETING AT WAIKOWHAI BOROUGH OR MERGER? Objections to the formation of the Mount Roskill Road District into a borough were made at a well-attended meeting of ratepayers in the Roskill South area at Waikowhai last evening.

The principal objection advanced by Mr. J. R. Robertson, who occupied the j chair, was that under a borough, plural j voting would be abolished. He urged ; the necessity for engaging counsel to I support objections to the formation of 1 a borough before the sitting of the I commission, which is shortly to hear : evidence. - Mr ; s -. T. Dibble, secretary of the Roskill South Ratepayers’ Association, contended that it was essential to oppose the formation of a borough, be- ! cause under a borough council the sparsely populated area would not be so well represented as at present. 1 Whereas now ratepayers enjoyed plurality of voting, under a borough status they would be reduced to one vote, and all residents would be given voting powers. He urged upon every . ratepayer in the district to make it his business to give evidence before the commission as a counter to the evidence tendered by the Road Board’s witnesses. He said that a big petition had been sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs, the lion. P. A. de la Perrelle, urging that the scope of the commission should b© widened to include the taking of evidence on the question of joining the city. Roskill South, he said, contained 2,131 acres valued at £298,000, which should be entitled to an independent commission of inquiry should it be found impossible to widen the scope of the forthcoming commis"Tho suburbs of Auckland,” he said, ■'are already too large and are becoming powerful rivals of the city itself, a condition of things that can only lead to public friction. It Is only petty j officialdom combined w ith the parochial spirit that has kept the little boroughs alive.” “CITY WILL HAVE US” He contended that amalgamation with the city would reduce South Rosj kill’s rates from £IO,OOO to £7,000 a year. The system of unimproved value rating was most unfair in its ! operation, because it caused a few | landowners to pay the bulk of the i rates to the advantage of the small i householders. i The closely-settled areas would always vote for loans when they knew that Roskill South would have to pay most of the interest and sinking funds. A Voice: Will the city have us?

Mr. Dibble: Yes. It may be taken as a certainty that the city will take us. This assertion was confirmed by the chairman, who hinted that he had certain information on the point that he did not care to divulge, but he assured the ratepayers present that they had everything to gain and nothing to lose by joining the city. Sir Frederic Lang said that he regretted the division between the ratepayers of Mount Roskill, but if the city were willing to take them in and they were willing to go, then he thought amalgamation would be the lesser of two evils, despite the fact that the city was not particularly distinguished for good government. It was finally decided that steps be taken to oppose the constitution of the district into a borough and to engage counsel to marshal the necessary evidence.