PROPERTY VALUES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18687, 22 April 1935, Page 6

PROPERTY VALUES

EFFECT OF DEPRESSION WELLINGTON'S LATEST FIGURES ■ . • v Special to the Herald.) % ■."■ WELLINGTON, this day. The Government valuation of Wellington city has been under revision during the last two years, and the work was recently completed, this stage being heralded by letters to the newspapers from critical property-owners, who have been puzzled over the results as they affect the individual. Much of the mystery to the laymen is due to the fact that in the long intervals between valuations, changes occur in the popularity of districts, especially residential areas, and unless owners have been concerned in purchases of recent date, they are liable to receive shocks, pleasant or unpleasant, when the official valuations are published, based on a number of important factors, not the least being the actual prices paid for land and improvements in the area under review.

Wellington's experience will provide a fair guide to property-owners in other cities regarding the position of values to-day. The official view represented in the valuation results is that since the previous valuation of 1929, when the Dominion was emerging from a mild depression and had no hint on the longer one to follow, property values have receded to the extent of about 20 per cent., and that the decline is probably more marked in respect" to purely business areas than in the suburbs. *

Wellington ratepayers are levied on the basis of the unimproved value of their land, so that they are not greatly concerned over the improvements. Auckland valuations are fairly up to date, it is ascertained, for the reason that there are many local governing areas surrounding the city, and valuers have been steadily revising the rolls for some years. A revaluation of Christchurch city is being started, and experience shows that this process usually occupies two years.

sums, the clubs thus enjoying the. certainty of a modest, profit. He supported both the Gisborne and Kahutia Bowling Clubs, and was patron, president, or vice-president of innumerable smaller sports associations, which owed much to his generosity. The late Mr. Hall was first married in Auckland, as a young man, his wife being Miss Poulter, the daughter of a wellknown family of early Auckland days, whose death occurred in 1917, closing a life of usefulness in tho community. Mr. Hall married again, in later years, and lost his second wile recently. Surviving members of Ms family comprise Mesdames P. GallowM, O. 0. Hansen and H. W. Bain, mSIs Eileen Hall, and Messrs. F. T. Hall, W. A. Hall, and C. E. Hall, all being resident in Gisborne. Miss Francis, Christchurch and Daisy Carlton, of Sydney, are nieces of the deceased, and Messrs. J. and H. Francis, of Christchurch, are nephews. No other relatives of the late Mr. Hall are known to his family. Deep sympathy will be extended to his sons and daughters, and his nine grandchildren, in particular, in respect of his death. The funeral of the late Mr. Hall took place this afternoon at the Taruheru cemetery.

SIR RICHARD STAWELL

(Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) MELBOURNE, April 21. Sir RicTiard Rawdon Stawcll, one of the most distinguished medical men in Victoria, and a leading authority on nervous diseases, is dead; aged 71 years. Born in Melbourne, the deceased was a son of a former chief Justice of Victoria. He was educated at Melbourne University, of which he later Became president. He served in the European War with the rank of colonel. Mr. Frederick Walker, a highly esteemed resident of Hastings, passed away suddenly last Monday at Wanganui, where he and Mrs. Walker were spending a holiday.