FARM PROPERTIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 104, 4 May 1936, Page 10

FARM PROPERTIES

NEW VALUATIONS

BASIS OF ASSESSMENT

PREPARATIONS IN TRAIN

Under the Government's proposals for mortgage adjustments arising out of its guaranteed price plan, valuations of farm properties are to be based on the price to be paid for primary products and on what an average man can produce under average conditions, according to a statement made by the Prime Minister (the. lit. Hon. M. J. Savage) on Saturday.

Mr. Savage said that representatives of the four State departments concerned with mortgages had been asked to get together under the chairmanship of the Acting Public Service Commissioner to see what field staffs would be needed, what valuers they had available, and generally to prepare for the time when a revaluation of all securities, on the basis of the guaranteed price for butterfat, was necessary. He indicated that the legislation would be brought down during the present part of the session, and that it was the Government's intention to amalgamate the State mortgagees under the Mortgage Corporation of New Zealand, which, like the Reserve Bank, would be constituted wholly a State concern.

At present, the Prime Minister said, the mortgage equity was based on butter at 88s a cwt, but the guaranteed price would be more than that so actually the mortgagee would be placed in a more secure position.

If the mortgagee lent his money al a boom period, he could not expect the farmer or the people of New Zealand to carry that burden for ever. An adjustment had to be made sometime, and the new legislation would provide for it to be based on the guaranteed price for butterfat.

Mr. Savage added that it was what the average person could do under average conditions that kept people on the earth. He made it clear that it was not the Government's intention to harness the'farmer to a fixed rock so far as price was concerned. The price would be fixed each season.

The Prime Minister intimated that the Bill would provide for the State taking over the whole of the private share capital in the Mortgage Corporation. ■

Mr. Savage added that the Government's proposals would ultimately apply to urban as well as to rural mortgages.