The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1911. CLIFTON COUNTY RATING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 331, 19 June 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, JUNE 19, 1911. CLIFTON COUNTY RATING.

Elsewhere' in tljis issue the chaiman of the Clifton County Council rebukes us for the stand we have taken in connection with the non-rating of Maori land in occupation »f Europeans in that district. We are pleased to afford Mr. Foreman an opportunity of replying to our criticism. That he fails to answer it and justify the action, or want of action, of the Council, we think we will hare no difficulty in demonstrating. Mr. Foreman, in the first part of his letter, says: "It is noticeable that the self-inter-est charge against members of the Council is not repeated (in your columns of the (Ith iiist). Does this in- , dicate that you are unwilling to make the amende honorable, but will silently allow the charge to pass into oblivion ?"

In our first article we stated that some past and present members of the Council were among those in occupation of the non-rate producing land. In support of this statement we have only to turn to the proceedings of the last meeting of the Council, when Cr. McKenzie acknowledged that he occupied, Maori land for which he paid no rates, adding, however (and this admission is important in .the light of the statements contained in Mr, Foreman's letter) that he would have done so fed he received.a demand for rates, whilst the eliairman himself confessed that lie had been holding such land up to three years ago. Further justification for our statement is unnecessary. Mr. Foreman evidently thinks councillors were quite right in not paying rates on Maori land they occupied. "People," he says, "pay rates on compulsion, not from choice." In the ordinary course of things he is quite correct, but we differ from him profoundly so far as the action of the councillors in this particular matter is concerned. Councillors are in a somewhat different position to other ratepayers. They occupy positions- of trust and responsibility, they Have the levying of the rates and the custody and management of the | interests of ratepayers, and for these I reasons they are expected to be the first to discharge their obligations to the Council, moral as well as legal; -or, in J other words, to set an example to the ratepayers, and not be a party to anyj thing that might be construed as a violation of their trust or place them in a false position. The councillors in this case may not have been legally compelled to pay tbe rates, but the moral obligation to do so was there all the same. They owed this to themselves, apart from any other consideration. Such an action would have placed them beyond any charge of interestedness. and must have had a beneficial effect on occupiers similarly situated and who could not then have said: "Why should we pay when Councillor So-and-so does not?" Hut Mr. Foreman regards this as Utopian, for he says: "Do you know of a case where, under ordinary circumstances, this ha» been done?" Fortunately, we can quote a local case. A member of the Tammaki County Council, not long ago, "occupied" some Maori lands, and forthwith offered fo pay rates on the property, payment, of course, being accepted. No doubt this

party felt it liis duty to pay the rates, though he was not actually compelled to. Wo liiive maintained, and maintain as strongly as ever, that the Clifton Council should, had it been sensible of its obligations and duty, have made a demand for rates 011 all Europeans holding Maori land, however irregular their leases were, and tried to obtain the money, instead of pursuing a policy of masterly inactivity so far as the real users of the land were concerned and confining their attention to the Maori owners, from whom it was almost hopeless, in the state of the law, to obtain rates. And councillors interested should have been the first to be served with demands. But, Mr. Foreman will nsk, who would have 'responded? Well, Cr. Mackenzie for one, as lie frankly admitted at the Council Chamber. The onus would have been on those served with demands to prove that they were not liable. This course in the cases of holders of leases without six months' "eertain" tenure, Mr. Foreman Bays, wan impossible because of the unsatisfactory position of the law. But to this we reply that the proceduro was found to work successfully by the Taranaki Oounty Council in some case® on all fours with those existing in the Clifton district. We are quite aware that in a court of law the demand for rates in respect of some of these irregular leases might have been successfully resisted, but the ocoupiers would have nad to prove, to the satisfaction pf the court, that they did not possess six months' certain tenancy, a claim that would have been difficult to establish by some occupiers in the Clifton County, who have been holding Maori land uninterruptedly for years and paying no rates on theni. But, in our opinion, few cases would have reached court. Occupiers in all probability would have accepted the position and paid up, as was the case in the Taranaki count'-, which did not wait for the provisions of the new Eating Act to bring the.se occupiers into line. The new law is necessary to block the loophole through which some of the occupiers might have escaped. How there is no escape. In th« past the Clifton County have been busy pointing out these loopholes, instead of taking the hit in their teeth and taking every step to compel payment of rates. They showed no disposition to move under the new Rating Act until pointed reference was made to the matter by our Tikorangi correspondent. Mr. Foreman alludes to ■the return of occupiers recently furnished to the Council, stating that there are fwelve holding 987 acres. These figures are at considerable variance with the particulars in our possession, and before saying anything further on this hea'd we must carefully examine that return. And for the same reason we must withhold comment on the financial aspect. These, however, are but minor details. They in no way affect the principle with which we are concerned, and that is that the Council has. neglected its duty in the past in not trying to recover rates from occupiers of Maori lands, to the ] detriment of the best interests of the oounty. We are not concerned about tha personal aspect. There is much to admire and appreciate in Mr. Foreman and in his sterling public services, which we have always been glad to recognise, and only regret hif, connection with a state of tilings which we feel it, a public duty to criticise in the way we have. The stand we have taken is solely in the interest of the body of ratepayers, and lias no other object whatever. Mr. Foreman's unfortunate reference to "fair and honest journalism" can be left for examination to the discriminating reader, who will, we are sure, agree that the comment has been necessary and both fair and honest.