VALUES OF BROAD ACRES

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 27, 1 February 1924, Page 5

VALUES OF BROAD ACRES

, In common with other lending institutions we' have'suffered through our expert.valuators taking an unduly optimistic view in regard* to values of broad acres (states the annual rePort of the Equitable Building Company, .- _; prespnf.ed to the meeting of members tbv .._;).. I n the past' values„ ha c ...been based largely> on ._ extreme prices paid by men of : optimistic temperament and restricted) capital, ready, and willing to shoulder! mortgages' that prudent men would shud-i der to contemplate., It seems to mef that the time has arrived for some radi4 leal change to be- made in the system j of valuing farm lands. Values cannot ■ be based on, what one man may have'paid for~ similar land in the district, nor can the value be correctly assessed b^ taking the prices ruling from time totime for the products of the soil. The; proper course should, I think, be to take the returns for a series of, say, v"' °? seven years- having regard to the abilities. and qualifications of the owner to properly farm the land. The productive capacity of a farm depends upon capable management, and the per-sona-1 equation is therefore an important ■ element'; in Arriving at the value of a,;farm. Farm lands, not wholly improved quickly go back to their virgin, state in incompetent hands, or under the control of those who do not possess suf-' hcient funds to thoroughly develop them. . Furthermore,. I think it would be in the interests of. the farmers themselves, and of the community generally if^-they were compelled to keep some simple set of. books whereby the earning, capacity of the land could be ascertained With, some" degree of accuracy: me value of a farm depends upon what it will, yield the owner under his management, and this return should, not be a guessing matter, as if, ;too often is now, but ascertainable from book-re-cords of receipts arid expenditure. Had this been the practice in the past there' would not have been the; absurd inflation _in- the valuation of- farm lands which resulted in the insolvencies of so many hundreds of farmers in the past two or three years. The directors of this company and its chief executive officer can%k4n that, before committmg themselves to ad' vances they have exercised the greatest possible amount of vigilance, but natura'lv *hey h?;ve to depend, to a large extent, on the valuations obtained from those who may be regarded as experts, especially ,„ the value of broad acres! But this extreme vigilance has not been m.some instances, prodj against their extreme optimism. The comparatively, smaffl loss we have incurred, however, M j-S eSpec l t' is y°ur assurance that the directors have been mindful of your interests, and have safeguarded them to the best of their abilities.