VALUATION OF LAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17594, 6 October 1920, Page 8

VALUATION OF LAND.

.iJ;xl- ■ N TT,--/;;*;' ■ .;* DILATE IN =THE CCfeNCEL." n [jTC, PRESS .ASgOCIAXKIK.] . WELI«IN<?TON, Tuesday. In the of tie * debate on the secon<L.reading of'."the Valuation of Land Amendment • Bill in the Legislative Council, the Hom> : G. "Jones fOamaru), I said * "vahaa-. tiot[s' t outrageously low in some districts. "Land owners asked*, more for their land," which should be valued accordingly. The Hon. C. H. Izard (Wellington) said the appeal against valuation should be dewe. ajfesy with. If the owners, objected to 4he "ralce they had the ;remedy-.. of offering the land to the Government at that value. . ■.'.■■'. The Hon. A... F. ,Hawke (Invercargill) favouredtihe i#a'of appointing ii man to take th© -place ; of the magistrate-Vpn the Assessments Court, as a>jneans ofj'.expeditine the- hearing, of d appeals. ' ■,-.• ->~ Sir' Walter _ Buchanan (Carterton}, said the Valuation Department was ; thei wpjfeS in New Zealand, many valuers not know ing anything. ;at all about land- rvalues. Valuers had not been around his district for. years. ,* '>:' '"'.,' *" ""< •■ ■ -" -The Hon./Cr." J. Garland ; (Auckland) said the-Bill would accomplish many things not achieved in the past. It was not essential, however, to have a lawyer presiding over the Assessment Court. \ The. Hon. D. T. Fleming (Balclutha) ' argued that the unimproved value was frequently placed too high, but improvements were put at too low a figure. He approved generally' of the BilL The Hon. J. B. Gow (Opotiki) said the real trouble in the matter of valuations lay in the system of taxation on unimproved values. It was impossible to draw an equitable line between unimproved and improved values. Taxation should be on the capital value. Sir ..Francis Bell stressed the difficulty of arriving at a definition of the .unimproved value. The department under great y Th§Jidicaps had given satisfaction. Delay was* -not due to a refusal to employ a sufficient staff. The difficulty was to get a large number of efficient men. Even during the war, however, the process of valuation had gone on.