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has drawn my attention to one such case for he tells me he is experiencing difficulty in the collection of rates. Hitherto these have been paid with commendable speed and
the number of late payers has not been out of proportion
to the total. Ratepayers are now beginning to be more dilatory in payment, resulting in more reminders having to be despatched. This quarter, some 9,000 reminders
were despatched out of a total of about 29,000 on the roll. This means a large increase in work, including searches of Land Office registers, much correspondence, and in some
cases, resort to legal proceedings. Some years ago, an
Assistant Crown Solicitor was attached to the Treasury
with two clerks and the names of all defaulters were turned
over to him to deal with. By arrangement with the Crown Solicitor, the Treasury took over the greater part of this work and much overlapping and expenditure were saved. If,
however, the number of late payers continues, steps will
have to be taken to speed up collection. Several alter- natives present themselves of which the two most feasible are (a) an increase in the rate with a corresponding decrease if payment is tendered within the legal period provided in the Rating Ordinance, (b) a surcharge in the case of delayed payments. Another alternative is an in- crease in the present Treasury staff, or the re-appoint-
ment of an Assistant Crown Solicitor to be attached to
the Treasury with his staff and provision of office
accommodation.
It is hoped, therefore, that ratepayers
will help the Government by paying promptly and so save