Land Sales Act Under Criticism in Marlborough

Grey River Argus, 23 May 1947, Page 3

Land Sales Act Under Criticism in Marlborough

BLENHEIM, May 22. “Absurd, illogical and unfair’’ were terms applied at a meeting of the Blenheim Borough Council to the Marlborough Land Sales Committee’s rulings on property values in the borough. Speakers emphasised, however, that it wao the Act they considered at fault, not the committee itself or its members. The target for some outspoken criticism was what one speaker called the “dangerous weakness of the Act,’’ —the nailing of values to the 1942 level, almost regardless of circumstances. The Mayor, Mr W. G. Girling, said he considered this a “menace to progress” in the case of Blenheim and comparable communities. Councillors contended that by insisting on values now disproportionately low the Act not only discouraged vendors unduly but made subdivision for residential purposes an uneconomic proposition and tied the council’s hands' in the matter of properly developing newly settled localities since even the highest permissable geenral rate levies on unimproved values in such cases would not nearly cover the cost of providing for adequate roads and foot-.-paths.