LAND SALES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 31, 5 August 1943, Page 4

LAND SALES

BILL INTRODUCED

SETTLING RETURNED MEN

"Ninety-nine per cent, of the Bill is to help returned soldiers get on the land and buy houses so that they won't be exploited," said the Minister of Lands (Mr. Barclay) in the House of Representatives last night explaining the purpose of the Servicemen's Settlement and Land Sales Bill, which was introduced and read a first time. The Bill contains 69 clauses, and is divided into five parts. It is described as "an Act to provide for the acquisition of land for the settlement of discharged servicemen; and to providefor the control of sales and leases of land in order to facilitate the settlement of discharged servicemen and to prevent undue increases in the prices of j land, the undue aggregation of land, and its use for speculative or uneconomic purposes; and to provide .for matters incidental thereto." COURT AND COMMITTEES. Part one deals with machinery for setting up a Land Sales Court and Land Sales Committees to control all sales and leases of land, both rural and urban. The Court will consist of a Judge of Supreme Court status, with two assessors. The Land Sales Committees will consist of not more than three members. . - These committees are to fix the "basic value" of land to be sold or leased or to be acquired compulsorily by the Crown for the settlement of discharged servicemen. The Court will direct the activities of the committees and will act as a court of appeal from their determinations. Registrars of the Court are to be appointed in the principal towns of land districts and there is to be at least one land sales committee in each land district capital.' , * Part two embodies the main provisions of. the Small Farms Amendment Act, 1940. It empowers the: compulsory taking of any land capable of subdivision into two or more holdings for discharged servicemen,'but the land of any serviceman serving outside New Zealand is not to be so taken. Thirty days' notice of intention to take land is to be given to the owner and other persons interested, after which the land may be taken by notice in the Gazette. r Claims for compensation will be heard by the appropriate land sales committee, with the Court as a court of appeal. The amount of the compensation is to be based on the "basic value" of the land as determined under the Act, and claims are limited to six months from the date of ..vesting of the land in the Crown. ~ CONTROL OF SALES AND LEASES. Part three deals with the control of all sales and leases of land and applies to: (1) The sale or transfer of any freehold land; (2) the leasing of any land for three years or more; (3) the transfer of any lease with three or more years to run; (4) the granting of an option to purchase any freehold or leasehold. Gifts of land, transfers between trustees, transfers to beneficiaries, etc., under wills* or trusts, and transactions entered into before the coming into operation of the Act,.are exempt. Committees are to take into account the following features:— (a? The amount of purchase money or rent to be paid and the extent to which it exceeds consideration in any* provision transactions; (b) the terms of the transaction or of any related transaction; (c) the suitability of the purchaser or. lessee, having regard to the use to which the land is being or ought to be put, and to the area of any other lands held by him; (d) the suitability of the land for settlement by a discharged serviceman. If the committee considers: that the land is suitable for the settlement of discharged servicemen, the Crown is given one month in which to take steps to acquire it, either by agreement or compulsorily, otherwise the trans-, action before the committee is al-. lowed to proceed.

BASIC AND PRODUCTIVE VALUES

Part four deals with "basic value" and the "basic value" is the limit of the consideration allowed in any transfer of land or any estate or interest in land. It is also to be the amount of •compensation paid if the Crown acquires land compulsorily. The "basic value" is defined as the productive value; increased or reduced by such amount^ as ; the committee deems necessary to make it a fair value having regard to: (a) The nature and extent of the estate or interest of the vendor or lessor, '(b) The extent to which the value of the improvements excedd% or is less than the value of improvements normally required. . (c) Any special locality value, (d) Any other relevant, factor.

. The "productive value" is arrived at by capitalising at 4J per cent, the net annual revenue derivable from the land by an average, efficient farmer.

The net revenue is to be' calculated by deducting from the gross income cased on prices of. produce at December 15, 1942, all the expenses required to be incurred in the production of the income. These expenses include amongst other things, rates, land taxes* maintenance, wages of; all labour concerned in production of the income, together with interest on stock and chattels computed at the rate of 5 per, cent, per annum.

Urban land (whicb includes. house property) is to have its value fixed as at December 15, 1942, increased or reduced by such amount as the committee thinks fit in order to make-it a fair value today.

Part five consists of various machinery provisions.