GRAVE CONCERN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 May 1938, Page 8

GRAVE CONCERN

MOUNTING COUNTY COUNCIL RATES VIEWS OF FARMERS’ UNION MEMBERS. MORE PETROL TAX WANTED. Grave concern at the upward tendency of county rates was expressed by members at yesterday’s annual meeting of the Wairarapa Executive of the Farmers’ Union and it was held that the time had arrived for a drastic overhaul of the existing rating system. After a general discussion a motion was passed urging that the whole proceeds of motor and petrol taxation be utilised for reading purposes. The matter was raised by T. Daniell, who moved the following motion:—“That in considering estimates for the forthcoming year, county councillors should consider the economic conditions of the farming community and the need for cutting costs.” Mr Daniell said country ratepayers were being sacrificed before the popular cry of adequate surfacing. With the estimates about to be considered for the coming year, the position might well be discussed. The problem of the motorist who found a good road and used it until it was a bad one had been before for years. When the petrol tax was originally imposed, it was solely for roading purposes and it was agreed to forego the right to toll gates. Today 40 per cent of every pound of petrol taxation was retained by the Government and there it could either be a surplus that would fill the Town Hall or pay for deep sea voyages, or be splurged by the Minister of Public Works on longer and longer tunnels and bigger and bigger bridges, on railways that might never pay axle grease or interest. SURFACING NOT PERMANENT. “We have in the past,” Mr Daniell continued, “set out the more permanent of the road work, the foundations, formation, grade curves <hnd alignment. Surfacing is not permanent. It is apt to deteriorate and should be maintained by the users. A bitumen surface does not make the adjacent land produce another pound of butterfat or a heavier fat lamb., so why pick on the farmer to pay it? Why should we pay out more to the counties than the service is worth?” Mr Daniell said farming must remain the basic industry of the country for many years, unless the present tendency to enlarge the civil service continued. No economist had yet found a method of subsidising the basic industry of the country. The only real solution was to see that too much was not taken off the farmers’ reward in the first place. Costs must be cut. County councils, like industry, should be paid what one could afford for the services rendered. Farmers would have to take-a more lively interest in the position. Mr Daniell said the time had arrived to call a halt. Rates were one cost that could be controlled. They had to remember that they were facing an economic situation that was not very agreeable. “WE MUST FIGHT.” Mr H. J. Hutchings said that in 1934 his general rates were £9 16s 2 and in 1937 they had risen to £l4 5s 3d. Including the hospital rate,, his total rates in 1937 were about £7 up on 1934. No reason existed for any increase in general rates, observed Mr Hutchings, who considered that county councils should receive a much larger share of petrol taxation. “Are we farmers always going to sit down and be kicked?” he asked. “We have got to fight and fight as a body. If we do not we will be in the same clan as the wharf labourers and serve us right.” A voice: “We would be well off then.”

Mr A. B. Martin pointed out that county councillors had no control over the biggest proportion of the increased costs of the last two years. Legislation increases in wages had resulted in the Featherston County Council imposing an additional rate of .jd in the £. Mr A. J. Denny: “The Featherston County always finishes up with a surplus.” Mr H. Bennett said increased wages were not the only cause of increased county rates. There were a lot of deviations and other works going on in counties that were not absolutely necessary. In 1936, repairing flood damage in the Castlepoint County cost £2,400 of which the county had to contribute £l,OOO. Wages had gone up from 14s to 18s a day, which, in the case of a county employing 15 men meant an increase of £750 a year. In 1935, the general rates levied by the Castlepoint County totalled £3,135 and the hospital rate £693. In 1938 the rates had risen to £5,000 and £1,237 respectively. That meant that from 1935 to 1938 the general rates had increased by £1,865 and the hospital rates by £554. The population of the district was not increasing and yet rates were going up by leaps and bounds. The whole system needed overhauling. County councillors should try to get a greater share of petrol taxation spent on improving back-country roads. INCREASE OF 90 PER CENT. Mr J. H. Bremner said that in 1918. the rates on one of his properties were £l6 16s lid. In 1933 they dropped to £9 0s 2d and then in 1938 they went up to £l6 13s, an increase of about 90 per cent on the 1933 figures. In spite of the big increase, the roads

were in no better state now than they were in 1933. It was perplexing to know where the money was going and why they were not getting a better service.

Mr A. Forsberg said the Mauriceville County had always tried to keep the rates as low as possible. In 1935, the county collected £1,856 in rates and in 1938 the figure had risen to £4,168. In the past three years the hospital rate had increased from £389 to £678. Wages had also just about doubled. While every effort was made to keep rates down, the roads had to be maintained in good order. It seemed to him that the day when the farm should maintain the roads had gone. It was not fair that the farmer should have to maintain roads for everyone to use. The user should pay. County councils could not do any more unless they received a larger share of petrol taxation.

“An increase on last year’s rates would be most unpopular,” observed Mr C. C. Jackson, who said that from 1935 to 1937 the rate on his property had increased by £5O. Mr Bennett: “The sky is the limit.” CAUTION URGED. While it was not all the fault of County Councils, added Mr Jackson, it was up to councillors to be very cautious regarding further increases in rates. He thought they should register their protest at the rates they had to pay on their properties. After some further discussion, Mr Daniell agreed to amend his resolution to read: "That the whole of motor and petrol taxation be utilised for roading purposes." In that form it was carried and will be forwarded as a remit to the inter-Provincial Conference in Wellington.