Days With Departments.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 12807, 3 June 1914, Page 5

Days With Departments.

FOI'RTH DAY

WITH TIIE VALUATION DEPART

MENT

Good morning, Mr Valuer. I am lather curious about your methods of valuation, which lead to some queer anomalies. Your work is rather important, as the land users not only have to pay rates on the basis of your valuations, but in some cases may b'i called upon to pay land tax. In many cases also they pay general, special and separate rates. How do you arrive at the basis of value?

Oh, very simply. We mav look at the land, but this is not absolutely necessary under our system, which is beautifully designed for the purpose in view, and is simplicity itself. We are supposed to judge as to the value of the land, but we are mainly guided by sales of land in its vicinity. We have all sales tabulated, so that we know exactly what price has recently been obtained by sale of similar land in the neighbourhood.

I beg your pardon. Perhaps I am misunderstanding you, but do you icallv mean to say that if a man manages to get a fancy price for a section j ou /ix the values of the properties of his neighbours at that price? Speaking generally, yes. What better guide could you have?

Is it any guide? Is it not possible that the seller may have found a fool with more money than it was safe to trust him with? Is it possible that when valuing country land you do not form your own opinion of its valu > for producing purposes, its fertility, and.its proximity to or distance from the markets?

That would be a long job. Besides as a liule the owner does not care how high a value is set upon his land. He sometimes growls about the small allowance for improvements, but if h-i wants to sell it helps him if he has a high valuation set upon it. But in many cases land is not sold, but is exchanged. For instance, a mail who has been living 011 a farm in the country wants to spend the rest of his life in a town, and willing agents submit to him a list of town properties. He values his £SOOO property, for exchange purposes, at £IO,OOO, and the other fellow does the same thing. Both know that they could not obtain anything like the amount at a sale for cash, but as they are going to exchange only it does not matter if they call it a million, except so far as agents' commission is concerned. Do you mean to say that this forms a guide as to real values?

Well, what can we do? We cannot go into the private reasons of those who make the exchange.

Quite true; but you most certainly could or should ascertain the real value, and not force up all valuations to a fictitious amount.

B"t both the local body and the State taxing machine want to see the values us high as possible.

That is no reason why fiction should take the place of fact in a matter in which rates and taxes are concerned. But what about the valuations in the towns? How is it that these are being continually increased, seeing that the rate burdens are in most cases yearly becoming heavier? Is it not obvious that if the annual cost of the property is artificially increased by your valuation it must tend to depreciate in value in proportion to the extra annual cost!

Oh, here again comes in the desire of the local body, and the wish of the men who want to sell.

But if your principle is correct then by a mere stroke of the pen you can add to the wealth of the community. Can you not see that its application means that the owner if he desires :o let it must necessarily obtain higher rent to compensate him for increased rate payment? How can this possibly increase the prosperity of a town? It must surely tend in the opposite di-rec-tion. . We hive nothing to do with that feature of the question. All we are concerned with is the bringing out of a high valuation. It pleases the State authorities and the local body. Well, good day for the present. There are some other features of your methods I will discuss with you another day. _____