Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] MONDAY, JUNE 26,1893. BOGUS RATEPAYERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4454, 26 June 1893, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] MONDAY, JUNE 26,1893. BOGUS RATEPAYERS.

We bad thought that wickodness was only rampantin high places at the Empire City, and in a less degree to be found in a smaller centre like Masterton; but we grieve to eay that m a quiet up* couutry district of the Wuirarapa North County, where we looked to find simple shepherds and rustic honesty, we have discovered indica tions of guile that would not disgrace the Heathen Gbineo, Has, scab, we wonder, being eradicated from the (look only to re-appear in the flookowner ? If so, the sooner a suitable dip is prepared for the latter, the i etter it will be for the oommnnity. It has came to our knowledge that the genuine ratepayers in a road distriot have been outvoted and placed at the mercy of a " land-grabber," by. the manufacture of what appears to us to be " bogus voiers," - The modus operandi ib as follows: ..

An agreement .made,this- ——day of ■ between of—, of : —, on the one part, and :—, of on the other part, whereby agrees to let to rent all that plot of land containing about acres, with ihe dwelling house upon it known as , situated at ——, County Wairarapa North, for the term of ono year, and so.on from year to year, at a rent of—■ —.provided that this leasing sball'absolutely cease, and this agreement be void, and the said shall have the right of re-entry at any time if the said-— : —shall from any cause,whether voluntarily or by dismissal, leavo the employ of the said. , and such leaving or dismissal shall ipso-factoputan end to the tenahoy. Dated this.- day of- I Signed— : — Witness —: It will be seen that by the adop.

tion of this simple formula a'flookowncr' can, without' the elighUst trouble; convert.his BtHiion hands his shepherds, or rabhitera into rate, payers of the road district iri which his property is situated by giving then) a lease terminable at a moment's notice, whioh is Absolutely valueless excepting as au instrument to enable the said " land-grabber" to acquiie a block vole on-his road board, and so control its administration against the wishes of the resident settlers. We put it to the Mt-mbsr (or Musterion, who has made it his business to watoh the ways of" land-grabberp," whether he has ever discovered anything as iniquitous as this, : and we ask bim whether he is prepared to stand between the genuine ratep iyer and the bogus vole. We can scarcely beliove that the Member for Masterton can be altogether ignorant of the practice. Is it not olearly his duty to bring uuder the notice of the Government and of the House an abomination of this character? Then too the North Wairarapa County Council, does it know anything of these little arrangements by which the legitimise rights of ratepayers are filolied from tliem, or is this vote manufactory one of those new ideas which they approve ? If it is should not circulars be sent to other local bodies throughout the Colony asking thoir co-operation in making up rate rolls on this principle. Of course the view we take of the practice may be a prejudiced one, and the formula wo have quoted may bo a purely consistent and legitimate method of concocting voles. We are a little old-fashioned and do not always grasp new ideas readily, and we would like very much to tee the queationdiscusserf, for if this invention be a good thing for the community, it ought to be widely known and adopted and the inventor of it is deserving of great credit.