THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909. AN INJUDICIOUS MOTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9023, 9 January 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1909. AN INJUDICIOUS MOTION.

It is difficult to understand the attitude taken up by Councillor Yarr at the Borough Council meeting on Tuesday evening, in connection with the rate levied by that body in 1906. The motion which he tabled set out that the rate was illegal because of certain informalities in the preparation of the rate book; and a somewhat animated discwsioi ensued upon the subject. Before bringing forward in open Council a motion which was likely to unsettle the minds of the ratepayers, and perhaps lead to costly and futile litigation, Councillor Yarr ought to have made himself acquainted with the law under which rates struck by local bodies are levied and made recover able. Had he done so he would have known that the alleged informalities in the rate book could in no way affect the validity of the rate struck, and that therefore those who have paid the rate have legitimately done so, while those who are in arrears can, and will, be mad© to pay the amounts levied upon them. The Rating Act takes especial care that there shall be no loophole of escape from payment of rates properly imposed. Even'where a local body fails from any cause to do anything required by the Act, the Governor is empowered to take steps to have the error rectified. In the present instance there was nothing done or omitted to be done that would render thejrate invalid, and that ought to I have been clear to the mover of the '

resolution. The informalities complained of in no way touch the genuineness of the rate. In his reply to the discussion that followed upon his injudicious motion, Councillor Yarr threw out a suggestion, inferentially, that ratepayers, if sued, should not contest the proceedings., and asked, "Would the Council then proceed tn attach the defaultei's' property under the Supreme Court procedure? If they did," he added, "then the trouble might commence in earnest, and the Council might find itself in for an expensive litigation." We on our part would ask —supposing everything in connection with the striking of the rate was illegal, is it a proper proceeding upon the part of any Councillor —is it an act of loyalty to the borough—to primarily bring the matter before the public, and possibly induce ratepayers to withhold payment of ratas? We leave it ro the ratepayers themselves to answer f .he question. One thing is certain, and ,that is, that the ratepayers who are in arrears will find themselves in a false position if they adopt Cr Yarr's interpretation of the law. The rate is fair and equitable, it is legally imposed, it is justly due, and it will have to be paid.