THE BALFOUR ESTATE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 164, 11 July 1914, Page 4

THE BALFOUR ESTATE.

It is interteting to -leatrn that Government has decided to acquire the Baifour estate for eettilement purposes, arid that the Land Purchase Board is taking steps accordingly. This estate, consists of something over 3,000 acres situated close to the town of Pahiatua, and in the middle of one of the mro-st flo-urishing and , -progressive districts in the Xorth Island. The owner of tie land is the Hon. A. J. Balfour, and the history of his 'holding- makes very interesting reading. The original area of the estate was 4,679 acres, and in 1883, aibout the time of its purtihJuse, its capital value was £10,000. Milch of tfhe block is said to be high-class land, -well suited foT dairying, and the rest is well adapted for mixed farming. Tn the early days a certain amount of money was spent in felling bush, gra-sEing the land, and fencing; I>ut beyond- that stage according to the "Evening Post"' representative who compiled some valuable information about 'Hawke's Bay and! 'Wellington land holdings four years ago, the improvements had made very little progrese, only a small portion ol the land ■being stamped and ploughed. The 'last availa-ble valuation of tho block was made m 1009, when over 1,500 acres had been sold. The reduced area, of 3,355 acres was set down at £24.915 unimproved Talue, and) £34.371 capital va>tae; and it k to this rise in values that we now particularly wish to draw attention.

In 1883 the capital value of this land wae £2 2/9 per acre; and twenty-six yeure after the land was estimated at £10 7/3 per •acre i"<w, Jlr. Balifoiir has lived on £he other aide of the world all tihie time, and! dluring these thirty years 'he 'has done very little to improve tte value of bis land. Yet ttoough t'he l general progrcee of th* coumtiry andi the heavy expenditure of the State on- roadte atfd railways, the land fe-s steadily riee-n in value. Today it ie prtfbably worth consideraibly more *hun tho 1004 valuation of £10 7/3 per acre, ami past experience has ehown+hat landlorda whose holdings are purriiaepcD for settlement usually succeed in getting at lfoet the current maTket price from' thr- vState. We have, eet forth t'ht^e , fecte bncaune they illustrate admirably two of tiro worst evile from which this country has suffered in the past, and which are still affecting it mo6t injuriously.—absantoe landlord- ,- iem. and the locking up of land in large areas by o-n-nens w.ho make practically no attempt fro improve it. but merely wait) for the 'MrnearnTd increment which eooner or later in; bound to fall into t'.ifir hande. In'eid'pntally fh-;s tardy attempt to deal with the Balfour eKta-te. which for years 'nae ibeen c-!»tnicting the progress of the Pahiatua district, phould turn Parliamen-t'e attention to the urgent need' for breaking up the. great estates which are still h-eld vacant and unimproved along the eaet eide of tie -North Irfand and etill persietently block settlement tihere. ■We need' hardly add that nothing we ■have eaid ehould! be taken ac an endioraement of tho- purchase of ench land by the State at tie present high rates. But the facts we ha,ve cited certainly go a long way toward juetifyiirg the dpjnand for some effective method of breaking up the laTge 'hoM-iugs by heavieT diirsct taxation, and ifor securing at least eoane portion of this undfeervpd and. un. j.med increment for the wthole community, wlvose progrese hae produced it.