Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-09-05
HOLLY I OvNsHIp.


EHIToE@ or THE JOURNAL -Havinc
read the Financial Report OF the Com
mittcr on Finance of the Board of
County Commissioners, made bv Law
son T.. Rice, acting Chairman, I feel
called upon rs Chairman of the Board
of TrIst"ces Of Holly township, to sub
mt few words III an humble way in
reply to said report The township
trustees are by law invested with the
power of assr ssing the value of the
property III each township. This pro-
vision Is made, ] suppose. because it is
presumed that they are generally az
Iuainttl with the yalur of the land
therein, and are competent TO assess il
correctly, and when they do SO. as they
honestly believe, the Board Of Com
mlssionrrs should be fully satisfied by
proper evidence or Il knowledge them
selves of the land, that our valuation
Is unreasonably low, before they should
make an alteration of the assessment,
Now was this done by the Board Is
If not fact that there was no sworn
testimony given in before them, or
dld they themselves have sufficient
knowledge of the vallle of the land to
honestly say tl.at the township trustees
did they simply exercise an arbitrary
power III making the assessment over
0ur valuation greater? The people
complain of this, not on the amount of
TAX levied on the hundred dollars val
ne of the Land, but Of the increased as
S"Sments, thereby making the amount
of taxes to be paid, much greater than
before. | admit that the Board has
n :.
10y the trustees, but how should this
he done ? certainly by proper evidence
or Il knowledge themselves Of the val
ne of the land, and not simply to say
10 Mr. FIack. who is making out the
lists of taxation. to increase the!land in
tins township fifty per cent and that
township one hundred per cent, over
the valuation Of the township trustees
lIn seems to me to be a great wrong
Now Is 1T true that IL majority of the
Board ordered this to be done for /
am Informed that three members of
til" Board were not present when it
WAS ordered to he done, namely,
Al'=,sr.'. Chadbourn, Morris and Nixon.
If this be SO, is it not right for the
people to resist such unwarrantcd ex-
rrcIsc Of power by minority of the
Board ?
What Is the necessity of having the
trustees of the townships to value the
land, when the Board can, at their
VIII and pleasure, alteS it. and if they
have the power to increase the value
% per cent. more, why can they not
Increase it 100 or 800 per cent ? What
Is Tia" restriction, and where is the
limIf? We are perfectly at then
mercy. Can this be the meaning ot
the Ecyenuc law? The value of land
d"pends on its situation and quality
There are thousands of acres of land
IN Holly township, some of which Is
lUrty-scven miles from Wilmington
and some of it twenty-five miles from
the railroad, and some of it thirtee1
miles from any naviSable stream, ant
great deal of the tllrpentine land has
been exhausted, and thousands can bt
i.oU@ht, Oh twelve months credit, TO
~ cents per acre, anl yet the BOars
has assessed the average value of th
laid III this township at 50 on per acre
liHs appears to me not in accordance
with the law of cash value at volun
fary sale. | hope that this matter ma
Yet b" fairly arranged, for the peopl
Ill my township are justly indignan
alii very much embittered in thei
feelings at the enormous assessmen
made upon their lands over that mad
by the township trustees.
] am, Messrs. Editors, very respect
fully, THos. Williams.