AMAZING ERROR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 43, 21 February 1939, Page 8

AMAZING ERROR

A CHEQUE FOR £6O CITY RATEPAYER'S MISTAKE FULL AMOUNT OF VALUATION AUCKLAND. Feb. 19. A n envelope that was received by post at the city valuer's office last, [week contained what is regarded at the Town Hall as the joke of a lifetime. The City Council recently sent out notices of rating valuations of all properties in its district for the year 1939-40, preparatory to the sitting of the Assessment Court. Among the notices was one putting an annual taleable value of 120 on each of three vacant sections at Tamaki which had been acquired last year by a man living in a southern city. On opening a letter the other day an official was amazed to find in it the valuation notice, together with a cheque for £6O. Evidently the new ratepayer had mistaken the notice for a demand for £6O in rates and had remitted the full amount of the annual valuation. Actually, if the rates for 1939-40 are on the same scale as last year, he will be liable for only £l4 14s 3d, including non-consumer's water rate, and will not have to pay until nearly a j ear hence. The council has returned the cheque by registered post, with a letter explaining the position. It was stated yesterday that a few similar mistakes ihad occurred in the past, but they had all related to small semi-rural properties in the outer suburbs, valued at only a few pounds per annum.