PRODUCTIVE VALUE DEFINED.

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1943, Page 6

PRODUCTIVE VALUE DEFINED.

"Productive value, honestly described, is an approximate estimate of the difference between income and expenditure on a ' given property fanned by an average farmer of good average ability under average seasonal and market conditions," states Mr. A. W. A. Sweetman, a member of the executive of the New Zealand Institute of Valuers, in a discussion on this question in the Institute's latest bulletin. He deals at some length with, methods of arriving at a productive value, and refers also to the question of fair selling value. This he defines as the price at which a sound farmer buys rural land, having a good knowledge of such land and the methods and manner of farming it, with, the intention of farming it for a living. In the first case, valuers had to try to estimate tho farmers' average earnings and average expenditure, he says, and in the second place they relied on the sound judgment of the practical farmer. "The. ; whole question may be summed up in, the necessity for accurate prediction of surplus income over expenditure. This presupposes reasonably stable markets for the future. If for some reason or reasons you have a sudden slump in the world value of primary produce, no amount of budgeting, however carefully and meticulously the budget is I drawn, can help you to pay your way. Nor can it help even the extremely c&reful and practical farmer who buys on figures based on present prices or any price average of past years. It is quite evident therefore that to bridge any gap of considerable difference, between estimated and actual surplus an' adjustment of some kind in the value of land has to be made. . : ' • •. ,- . "Let us remember, then, to accept the basis of productive value or economic value in its proper perspective, and recognise that it is at best an approximation >made up of- many items and factors, very few of which have an exact basis; and at worst it may: yield a balance •or result which, on ' paper appears sound enough but in practice comes out very, badly indeed." , ' • ,

John Edward Whitland Smith, , soldier, 30, was sentenced to three months' hard labour, by Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., today for committing" an indecent act, with intent to offend, in.the Salvation, m Army hut at the railway station.