LAND VALUES CONTESTED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23482, 20 October 1939, Page 10

LAND VALUES CONTESTED

VERDICT AGAINST CROWN [BV TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] GISBORNE, Thursday The action of tlio Housing Department in taking advantage of the Valuation of Land Act in valuing land on which State houses have been erected in Wairoa was disputed in the Assessment Court in Wairoa. The dispute was based on the fact that sections occupied by State houses had been revalued, compared with sections adjoining, to which the Wairoa Borough Council objected. The objection was upheld by the Court. Outlining the objections, Mr. C. V. Chamberlain said the council sold the sections to the Crown at a price covering rates due on them to eucournge the Housing Department to build State homes in Wairoa, where there was a big shortage. In most cases the unimproved value was much less than that of the sections adjoining them, and the action of the department in valuing the sections lower would have the effect of altering the whole system of valuing blocks in the borough. The value of the sections should be the value for building purposes. He submitted that it was unfair for the Crown to secure a lower rating than that for the adjoining property.