ABANDONED FARMS.
THE CAUSES OF FAILURE. FORMER COMMISSIONER'S VIEW. " It is very sad, in going over the backcountry roads, to see the number of vacant farms," said Mr. H. M. Skeet, formerly Commissioner of Crown Lands, when giving evidence in a civil case in tho Supremo Court yesterday. Questioned as to the cause of abandonment, Mr. Skeet said he took it to be that the holders had paid too much for the land and could not find sufficient capital to stock and farm it properly. Want of stock, and of adequate topdressing of the pastures, was the direct cause. On another branch of the subject , Mr. Skoefc declined to accept a suggestion by counsel that tho farmers in a given locality were the best judges of value of the land thereabouts. "Certainly not," he said. "There are too many abandoned farms, and too many sellers." With regard to the reliability of Government valuations as a guide to the Court, the witness pointed out that those assessments were made for taxation purposes, and it was well recognised that they were, as a rule, lower than selling values. There were, however, occasional instances where they wore above soiling values, and very much so.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19250218.2.142
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18946, 18 February 1925, Page 12
Word Count
201ABANDONED FARMS. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18946, 18 February 1925, Page 12
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the New Zealand Herald. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence . This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries and NZME.
Log in