RATES ON NATIVE LANDS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 August 1921, Page 4

RATES ON NATIVE LANDS.

The resolution passed at the New Zealand Farmers’ Union conference on Monday, to the effect that the Union should co-operate with local bodies in connection with rating native lands, and that the Native Land Act should be amended so as to provide for rates being paid on such lands, and the natives made to contribute their fair share of taxation, should meet with general approval. Provision already exists for rating native lands, but the main difficulty i# in collecting the money. Much of this land has not been individualised, so that it is impossible to ascertain who is liable for rates, and even then it is difficult to obtain payment. In these days the native# enjoy all the benefits of the roads formed and maintained by European and other settlers, and they should be called upon to pay their share of the cost.. All that is necessary is to devise a practical scheme under which rates can be collected, and. that would put an end to the evasions now prevalent. Manifestly, where there is much native land in a district, a great hardship is inflicted on the pakeha settlers by their having to bear the burden of rates while the natives mostly avoid the obligation by every means they can conceive. If the ‘ Government had to collect the rates it would soon find a method that would be effective for the purpose. No system of taxation can be equitable unless all occupied land contributes its , fair share. The difficulty is one of long standing, but the present financial stress has made its settlement all the more urgent. Equal rights involve equal responsibilities. That is the principle on which the natives should be treated, and the Government will fail in it# duty if that principle is not enforced. The request is reasonable and fair, and no time should be lost in making the necessary amendment to the Act in question.