LAND VALUATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIX, Issue 11557, 19 April 1898, Page 4

LAND VALUATION.

The gentlemen who ■ met at Leeston tlie other evening and protested against what they called the excessive valuation of the Ellesmere district were probably under the impression that the Colonial Treasurer was the real author of all their troubles. One of the speakers, indeed, plainly stated that ‘‘ unless the Government showed more consideration to the agriculturalist ” these useful members of the community would he “ wiped out of existence.” He had evidently forgotten for the moment that tlie present Government has done far more than any other Administration ever did for the farmers, first by relieving them from a considerable amount of taxation, and then by providing special facilities for the development of their various industries; but by this time he has, doubtless, remembered the favours of the past and framed a less desponding view of the future. This, however, is merely by the way. As a matter of fact, the Government has less to do with the details of the valuations than the farmers have themselves. The valuers are specially directed to see owners and occupiers and to confer with them as to the value of their properties. The Government, on the other hand, has no opportunity to urge its own idea of values, and must accept the decision of the officials appointed by the permanent head of the department. The causes of the dissatisfaction in. the Ellesmere district are not fa* to seek. The former assessment was excessively low, and a further reduction of 15 per cent was made a few years ago, when prices for all kinds of produce were a good deal below their present level. Since then land has been sold in the district at nearly double the rate of the valuation, and loans have been _ granted on the same scale. The rise in the price of wheat has, of course, had a marked influence upon the selling value of agricultural land, and as Ellesmere was previously assessed oa a rather lower basis than other districts, it is now specially affected by the change. The same sort of thing has been going on all over the colony, and Conservative politicians have not hesitated to attribute it to the interference of the Treasurer; but that the new valuations are generally justified is shown by the proceedings before the Assessment Courts. Thirteen districts in Canterbury have already passed under review, and in every case of any importance’ the official valuation has been upheld. This is surely a conclusive answer to the rather ungenerous insinuations against valuers and their methods which were thrown out at the Leeston meeting last week.