REDUCED ONE-THIRD

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 25 June 1925, Page 4

REDUCED ONE-THIRD

DISTRICT LAND VALUES. ILLUSTRATION FROM NOEMANBY. WHAT A RE-VALUATION SHOWS. A suggestion that the best farming lands of South Taranaki are over-valued by as much as onethird is contained in the substantial reductions admitted by Government officers, who recently mad.© a special re-valuation of four blocks near Normanby, comprising some of the richest lands in the Hawera County, and aggregating nearly a thousand acres. The average reduction granted on the present unimproved value was over thirtyfour per cent., and presumably these new valuations may be taken as an indication of wbat is t-o be expected of the general re-valua.-tion looked for at the end of this year.

It was early fn the present year that the owners of the land unever notice iodged their request for a special valuation, and the ngures, which have just come to hand wnl be available for taxation purposes for the current year. By courtesy of the solicitors concerned in the matter, a drawer a Star reporter was enabled to compare the old and new figures., and to note the striking reductions in value which are apparently admitted to have taken place since the last general valuation was made in 1919. In uo case has the value of improvements ..varied greatly; the drop has been almost wholly iu the unimproved value of the land, as will be seen by separate examination of each of the four blocks concerned, cerned. In the case of the first farm, containing approximately 298 acres, the unimproved value since 1919 has_ been considered to be £14,890, or £SO an acre. The new figures are £9504, or £32 an acre, a reduction of thirty-six per cent. The capital value of this property also drops £lB an acre, from £SB to £4O. ■ , ' The second area, the richest of .all four, comprises 235. acres, the unimproved worth of which, according to the 1919 valuation, was £14,970. or £63 10s an acre. It is now £9400, or £4O an acre, which represents a drop of thirty-seven per cent. Again The value for improvements is barely alter- ' ed, the capital value having dropped from £76 to £52 10s an acre. I n 1919 the 268 acres of another farm were valued at £13,385 unimproved, which worked out at £SO an acre. The new figures are £9178, or £34 an a(cre, 'the reduction being equal to thirty-one and a-half per ceM. of the old valuation. The capital value is correspondingly reduced from £59 to £43 an acre. . And the fourth block, containing 152 acres', of which the former unimproved value was £8350 —£55 an acre —is reduced by thirty-three pier cent, to £5585—£37 an acre. The capital value, which was formerly £64 an acre, comes down to £46. Considering that these blocks in the Hawera Riding may be taken a s typi- i cal of the general run of lands in the county, both as regards the 1919 valuation and present worth, particulars of the reduced values now placed upon them by the departmental officers should he Tend with more than ordinary interest by other farmers in South Taranaki.