FARMING COSTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 155, 3 July 1931, Page 3

FARMING COSTS.

land tenure problem.

INTEREST AND RATES,

Phases of the land problem in New Zealand were discussed at a meeting of the Open Forum on Wednesday. The chairman, Mr. W. A. Gray, presided. Speaking on land nationalisation as a, proposed remedy, Mr. Sainsbury said its object was to secure for the community the unearned increment from land, and to make areas readily available for settlement. But besides compensating the original owners, the State would be° called upon to finance all improvements required by the new tenant. That would involve a complex system of Government valuation, which would be open to many abuses, and would retard settlement. lie thought a better renjedy lay in the intensive cultivation of small holdings under easy financial terms. Justice for the community could be obtained by the taxation of excess profits. The greatest problem at present was that of finance, not the ownership of land, said Mr. A. E. Ttobinson. The economic price of land in New Zealand was at present very low, the greatest question in farming costs being that of interest rates, local body rates, land tax and tariffs, which increase the cost of living. The New Zealand system of land valuation was, moreover, very erratic, and quite out-of-date. It was easy to obtain land, and proposals to change the tenure only side-tracked the real issue, which was one of finance and administrative costs. Denmark, with its system of genuine co-operation and intensive farming, was far ahead of New Zealand in that respect.

Air. W. A. Gray said lie thought a system for the scientific training of land valuers as professional men would be of great value. They would be in a position to prevent the exchange of land at fictitious prices, and the worst type of land speculation would thus be eliminated.