New sub- section (8 added to
section 43 of Ordinance
No. 6 of
1901, and consequent renumbering of existing sub-section (8) as sub- section (9).
584
5. Section 43 of the Rating Ordinance, 1901, is amended-
(a) by inserting the following new sub-section after sub-section (7) thereof as amended by Ordinance No. 16 of 1931, and Ordinance No. 21 of 1938:
(8) Every owner or occupier who uses or occupies or knowingly permits to be used of occupied any room or other part of a tenement, which is exempted from assessment to rates under the provisions of section 2 (i) or of section 39 (5), for any purposes other than the purposes authorized under the said provisions, shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars and to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months.
(b) by renumbering as sub-section (9) the sub-section (8) added by Ordinance No. 21 of 1938.
Objects and Reasons.
1. It is considered desirable that, where a room is built in or added to a tenement or where other structural alterations or improvements are made in a tenement solely for the purpose of affording protection in the event of hostile attack from the air or for purposes auxiliary thereto, such room and structural alterations and improvements should be excluded from the rateable value of the tenement, if they are approved by the Air Raid Precautions Officer and the Assessor, so long as they are not occupied or used for any other purpose.
8. Similarly, it is considered desirable that no person shall be liable to pay rates in respect of a tenement so approved, which is intended to be, and in fact is, used solely for the purpose of affording such protection.
3. With these objects in view, clauses 2 and 4 of this Bill provide for the amendment of the definition of "Rateable value" in section 2 (i) and for the addition of a new sub- section to section 39 of the Rating Ordinance, 1901, so as to apply to "tenements" (defined in section 2 (1) of that Ordin- ance) which are approved by the said officers the exemptions that are applied to "hereditaments" by sub-section (1) and the first part of sub-section (2) of the Rating and Valuation (Air-Raid Works) Act, 1938, 1 & 2 Geo. 6, c. 65, and to extend those exemptions so as to cover purposes auxiliary to air-raid protection, such as ambulance rooms, dressing stations, gas-mask stores, etc., which, while not actually affording protection from hostile attack from the air, may be provided and used solely in connexion with Air Raid Precautions.
4. Clause 3 of the Bill makes provision for the inspection of exempted premises to ascertain whether the conditions of exemption are being carried out, and clause 5 provides a penalty for breach of such conditions.
April, 1939.
C. G. ALABASTER,
Attorney General.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.