THE LAND SALES COMMITTEE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25566, 20 June 1944, Page 6

THE LAND SALES COMMITTEE

Sir,—Members of the Returned Services’ Association seem somewhat concerned over a recent appointment to the Land Sales Committee. Members of the committee, however, merely decide cases on evidence submitted to them, and cannot fix one value for a serviceman and another for a civilian. It is therefore immaterial whether the committee consists of ex-servicemen or not. The association loses sight of the fact that the Act was passed merely as the first step towards the socialisation of land. It was called “ The Servicemen's Settlement and Land Sales Act ” only as a votecatching device, and it no doubt succeeded in bluffing a number of servicemen overseas that the Labour Government had found a solution of the problems of settling returned men on the land. ■ The cases reported in your paper, however, show that an extremely small number of farm properties has come before the committee. An overwhelming majority are residential properties. It is true that in a number of these the Crown valuers have sometimes been able to chisel something off a purchase price. The qualifications of these valuers have not. been disclosed. Some have knowledge of building costs, but this does not make them valuers of real estate. Once, however, one of these valuers has given his opinion that a property is worth a few pounds less than a purchaser is prepared to give, then the seller must either withdraw from the sale, accept the valuation, or go through the expensive procedure of contesting the case. In a reported case some time ago the fallacy of the presumption that the Crown valuer must be correct was shown by the court increasing a valuation from £7OO to £BSO. Instead of tackling the rehabilitation question in a practical manner, too manv Ministers are either globe-trotting or doffing hats to miners.—l am, etc., Dunedin, June 19 Alpha.