COUNTY VALUATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20619, 18 July 1930, Page 8

COUNTY VALUATIONS.

DEFLATION GENERAL. HEAVY DECLINE SINCE 1925, NORTH ISLAND CONTRACTION. I)pfl;ition of rural lam] values, marked evidence of which is shown by (he new valuations of the Whangnrei County, h;i S been proceeding fairly rapidly since 1925 when the unimproved value of county lands, for taxing purposes, reached its peak. In that year Ihe figure for New Zealand was £27)1.614.73". the island totals being: —North, £138.452,089; South, £93,162.70.1. The increase from 1920 to 1925 was no less than £19,466.000 Since I lien the total (ia:, fallen to £217.452.287, decline r.t £14.162.507. Inflation was greatest m the North Island and deflation is there more marked. The following county figures of unimproved value indicate the movement:— North If land. Soul!-, Island Itlv'.i . £l.'VM.>2,ns'.i 1-93.1H2.705' 132 c, . . on, 135,848 1927 . . 1 :!<•,,(;1'D.0-1 11)28 .. l'if.llU'i/l!)'.! 9:i 112 481 1929 .. J2.).ii:;.i7! 92.:»9.'HG '1 he, latest comprehensive information on the subject is contained in the 1930 issue of the Local -Authorities Handbook, recently published. Tho facts (pioted in this article are derived from it; the ease of Whangarei shows that later revaluations confirm the decline. Lack of Uniformity. Between .April, 1926 and 1929, the, gross unimproved value of the counties of the .Auckland district, including such urban areas as Eden County, fell from £48.442,815 to £43,406,517. The available statistics, of course, can never give uni. formity in comparisons because there is a limit to the number of complete county revaluations that can bo made and partial revaluation's never bring comparable figures to a common date. It is one of the great causes of dissatisfaction that revaluations cannot be kept reasonably near to a common basis. For instance, tha figure given in 1926 for Mangonui Countv, £551.181. was the result of a revision in 1916. .At that date inflation had not proceeded very far and i'„ is not surprising, therefore, to find that the 1927 figure which still prevails is a little higher—£s96.74B. Possibly the Bay of Islands County mav be taken as a fair average because partial revisions have there ln>err made on five occasions since 1918. The total has been reduced from £1,073.471 in 1926, to £884.264 in 1929. Hobson County had a gross unimproved value of £1,286,185 in 1926. there having been no revaluation since 1918. By a revision in 1928. the total -was reduced to £1.044.986. a drop of nearly one-quarter of a million. Partly Urban Areas. Year by year portions of Waitemata County become more and more suburban in character, which doubtless accounts for a slight increase, the figures being: 1926, £2,701.167, and 1929, £2,761,185. Jiden County, an urban area, on the other hand, has experienced severe deflation on this basis. In 1926 it had an unimproved value, of £4,007.486. Today it is £3,099,082. Manukau, which has suburban areas, lias risen from £2,980,064 to £3,073.208. In 1926 Waikato County was still working on the 1918 valuation of £3,392.625. The revaluation of 1928 brought it down to £3.155,364. Il is the same story in most of the counties. Jlaglan has dropped from £2.369.003, a 1922 figure, to £1.817.651. The rich county of Waipi has not greatly changed, but, the general tendency has been downward. Rotorua County, however, is unique in its rise from £645.640 to £1.340.973. a striking proof of the manner pumice land has gained in favour. Sheep Lands Decline. A decline of four and a-half millions in three years is shown in the seven counties of the Gisborne district, even though three 1919 valuations still largely prevail. Among those recently revalued are Opotiki, which dropped from £1.314.525 to £625.042: Cawa, £1.129.710 to £827.312; and Cook, £4.358.504 to £2,449.852. The Hawke's Bay grand total has not greatly altered, as only one county, Woodville, has recent valuation. Its {otal dropped from £1.461.891 to £1.059,405. The Taranaki district is down by.a little over one million, but it is to be noted that one county, Kgniont, has not been revalued since 1914. The change in Stratford County, by a new valuation, supports the general trend, however, tin value falling from £2.100.753 to £1,731,439. Similarly. Patea. has dropped from £2,378.006, a 1915 assessment, tc £2.064,110. Wellington, as a whole, has dropped from £41.491.395 to £40.183.277, but few new valuations have been made. Where these have taken place, however, the drop is substantial. AVaimarino, for ,instance, has fallen from £1.353."344 to £575.644. South island district figures are:— Nelson. Marlborough and W estland, £12.521.816 to £11.122.732: Canterbury, £53.086 064 to C 54 059.368: Otagn, £14.433.077 to £l4 141.921; Southland, £12,898.998 to £12.818.702.