Valuation Amendment Bill Introduced

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32301, 20 May 1970, Page 30

Valuation Amendment Bill Introduced

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 19.

Special rateable values for land used for a purpose other than that for which it is zoned are provided for in a Land Valuation Amendment Bill introduced in Parliament today.

The Valuer - General will, with the enactment of the bill, be able to assess special rateable values of land used exclusively for rural or residential purposes which is situated in an area zoned commercial or industrial under a district planning scheme.

The special value will be assessed if the land is not likely to be used for purposes other than rural or residential during the currency of the existing roll. At present such land is valued as commercial or industrial land, and is rated accordingly. In a similar vein, the bill provides for special rateable values of land used for single-unit residential purposes whose values are increased by the fact that the land is in an area where rateable values are influenced by

the demand for land for multi-unit housing. These provisions are a companion to provisions in a Rating Amendment Bill also introduced today. This bill provides for the collection of rates based on the special rateable values.

The valuation bill was introduced by the Minister of Lands (Mr Maclntyre). It also prescribes that district valuers of the Valuation Department must be registered valuers. The Minister said that at present all 44 valuers were registered. Two sections of the main act are repealed by the bill, and the responsibility for according rating relief or such land as sports grounds, parks and reserves, and showgrounds is shifted from the Valuer-General to the local bodies. The Minister said the responsibility for this should be with the local bodies, because it was their revenues which were affected. The bill was given a first

reading, a second reading pro forma, and referred to the Local Bills Committee for consideration.

CONSERVATION BILL A Water and Soil Conservation Amendment Bill was introduced in Parliament today by the Minister of Works (Mr Allen). The bill makes provision for the continued administration under the Water and Soil Conservation Act of existing mining privileges in respect of water.

These privileges were previously contained in the Mining Act, 1926, but a complete revision of the mining legislation, now before a select committee, does not cover them.

The bill also deals with water rights, making a number of changes and additions to the principal act.