EXEMPTION FROM RATES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 712, 11 July 1929, Page 7

EXEMPTION FROM RATES

MAORIS PRODUCE OLD AGREEMENT OBSERVED FOR 50 YEARS {’Special to THE SUN) THAMES, Wednesday. On the grounds that a promise was made 52 years ago to exempt them from the payment of rates for all time, Maoris opposed an application to the Native Land Court by the Thames County Council to make 77 charging orders to meet unpaid rates. Judge McCormick presided. Mr. E. J. Clendon. for the natives concerned, said that in 1575 the Thames County Council decided to ask the natives for permission to make a road from Totara to Matatoki, or still further to lTikutaia, as a military measure. The natives agreed to allow the road to go through provided they were exempted from the payment of rates for all time. Mr. Clendon produced an agreement dated May 19, 1877. “I maintain,” said Mr. Clendon, “that this is a solemn and honest covenant. It has been observed for the last 50 years, and is morally and legally binding upon the county as it is upon the natives. This agreement has been religiously observed by the county since its signing, and it is only this year | that there has been any attempt to force the natives to pay rates.” Mr. Purnell, for the council, submitted that the agreement had no legal merit and was ultra vires, as far as the council was concerned. Judge McCormick: I have no doubt that the document has no legal value at all. Mr. Clendon pleaded that the points of equity covered by the provisions of the Rating Act should be considered. Judge McCormick said he would deliver written judgment on that aspect tomorrow. Subsequently Mr. Clendon stated that further action would be taken to validate the agreement, as it was a most vital matter. “It certainly is one of the most important matters that has ever come before a Land Court,” added Judge McCormick.