THE TOKO LEASES.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 August 1922, Page 4

THE TOKO LEASES.

THE QUESTION OF RENTAL. COMMITTEE TO REPORT. The question of the rental of the Toko leases was again before the New Plymouth Borough Council last night. Messrs. Spence, Rutherfurd, Macaliater and Coleman, Stratford, wrote with reference to the lease by John Butler of one of the Toko sections. And asked that the rental value of the property should be immediately reviewed by the council. They pointed out that, in their opinion, .the property was valued for rental purposes at a much larger sum than the place was really worth, and that the council would continue to have trouble in connection with this property until the rental value and the value of the improvements were fixed. To put the matter shortly, the property would npt pay, no matter who worked it, at the present rental. The letter added that unlees Mr. Butler could obtain some re-valuation he wae not agreeable to carry on under the new lease, and he suggested that the council cancel this and allow him to?continue on under the old lease, which would expire in about six years’ time. The letter concluded that Mr. Butler’s case was entirely different from that of all the other tenants on the reserve, as his was the only case in which a gross over-valuation, both of improvements and of rental value, had been made.

Tn an attached note the general manager pointed out that Mr. Butler had been in communication with the council for several months past regarding a reduction of rent.

It was pointed out that in the new leases the rents had not been increased, but that tenants had been allowed to purchase the improvements, the payments to be spread over a period of 14 years. A committee consisting of the Mayor and Cr. J. Brown, with power to associate other councillors -with them, was set up to report on the whole question of these leases.