FOR FARMERS:

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1946, Page 4

FOR FARMERS:

Land Sales and Valuations Decision in a Kaikoura Case (This column is supplied weekly by Federated Farmers of New Zealand. The information given is official but any views expressed are those of the federation and are not necessarily those of this newspaper.) Land. Sales Valuations. Almost since the inception of the present method of controlling land sales, head office has regularly received complaints concerning the arbitrary decisions of both local committees and the Court. Latest revelations concern an extraordinary case in Kaikoura, .where 78 acres of dairying land, only a quarter of a mile from the railway station, was sold in two blocks, one of 24 acres to a private buyer at an approved, price of £7B an acre, and the other m 54 acres, compulsorily to the Crown for soldier settlement at £53 per acre. On appeal to the Land Sales Court, the committee’s decision was upheld, and the Court held that the approved price of the first lot (£7B) had no bearing on the price of the second lot. The Crown had submitted, incidentally, that the first lot had been grossly over-valued. Several pertinent questions are likely to be asked concerning the whole transaction. The Crown case, in part, rested on the lack of relation between the prices approved for the two lots. The Crown admitted its valuer had made a mistake in his valuation of the first lot. The obvious question is, how then can anyone have confidence in Crown values when such an admission is made by Crown counsel?

There were no buildings on either lot. The committee had deducted £ll4O from the productive value for the lack of those buildings. The appellant argued that no deduction was made for the provision of a residence in any other form of business, and made the suggestion that the cost should be borne by the State if the land was taken for an ex-serviceman. The Court said that such an argument was based on “an inadequate appreciation of the method of valuation prescribed by the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act.” An assessment of a farm’s basic value, it added, must envisage a farm fully equipped with buildings and other improvement normally required to produce the estimated income.

By such a judgment, the Court has postulated that owners of single-unit areas, or owners who could cut off an.area —where there are no buildings, are now obliged to sell at a price that will provide for the cost of erecting buildings. In this case, a buyer for the second lot and the owner of a neighbouring farm was actually in the market at £7B per acre. Following that offer, the Crown decided to buy and the price was reduced. In such circumstances, therefore, it appears that the sale of an area, which might be a unit in itself, is not allowed to an adjacent owner, though he might provide the best market. Farmers, in such circumstances, can hardly be blamed if they do not offer their land for sale. In the view of Federated Farmers, the continued opposition to the Act by farmers is the best indication of its futility as a rehabilitation measure and of its unfairness to vendors. The Kaikoura case must further weaken the rapidly diminishing confidence of farmers in the set-up under the Act.

The Standard Sack. At the annual conference of the Agricultural Section in Christchurch last week, general support was given to a proposal for the introduction of the standard 25 x 44 inch sack. The present 23 x 46 inch sack did not hold the average of three bushels of wheat, would not stand in the paddocks and were unsuitable for fitting to many header machines and for potato filling. Head office has now received advice from the Standards Institute that a meeting will shortly be held to consider changing the present specifications in favour of either a 26 x 44 inch sack or one of 25 x 44 inches.

Standard Fencing Posts. A special committee of the Standards Institute, on which the federation was represented, has agreed on standard specifications for concrete farm fencing posts and struts. The committee has recommended the use of a post which will take a test load of 7501b5, which will be thoroughly reinforced and of which the concrete must reach Public Works Department standard. This decision is in line with recommendation made by the Farmers’ Union in 1941.