Readers’ Opinions

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19340, 2 June 1937, Page 11

Readers’ Opinions

Letters To The Editor

Letters intended for publication should bo brief and confined to subjects of general public interest. The name and address of correspondents should bo enclosed, not necessarily for publication, but as evidonco of good faith. A Burns Quotation Sir, —There appeared in your issue of Friday last a contribution by “Independent'' on the unemployment problem. As a conclusion lo ms letter ho quoted : "Oli may the sun of reason rise, to brighten the inulnight gloom,’’ and attributed the couplet to Burns. Being somewhat of an admirer of the works ot the hard, 1 was naturally interested, lent confess to being unacquainted with the words of the quotation. Would “Independent” be so gracious as to give me per medium of your columns the piece and the verse from which the selection was made?—Yours, etc., “TAM O’ 811 AXTRTt.” Waimata-Arakihi Road Sir,- —With reference to the deputation of Waimala-Arakihi settlers to the Minister of Public Works, the - lion. _ R. Semple, members of the deputation would like to point out that through the rush of the meeting a slight misunderstanding has crept in. The report reads that half-a-mile of road between Gisborne and Toliiga Bay was unmetalled, t lii.s should read that half-a-mile of road m tile Uawa County, abutting on to the Cook County portion of the road had fallen into such a had state of repair that it could not be used for wheel traffic. The deputation asked the Minister if lie would make provision for the opening of this piece ot road at a cost of from £3CO to £4CO. So far as tl’fe actual metalling of the Waimata-Arakihi road is concerned 4$ miles had been metalled, leaving about to be done. This completed, and the portion in the Uawa County put in order, the Wai-inata-Ai-akihi road from Gisborne to Tolaga Bay should then be a secondary highway.—Yours, etc. J. *O. FIELD. County Rating System Sir.—l should be glad of space to comment on a letter by Mr. Francis Stafford in your issue of Saturday last on the subject of rating. His letter clarifies the position, but his conclusion as to the relative merits of the capital or the unimproved value basis is hardly log.cal. All the circumstances mentioned by Mr. Stafford, proximity to markets, cost of transport, quality of roads or any other such, are considered and given their due weight by any competent land valuer. The income-raising capacity of any type of land is largely governed by such conditions and since capital value is actually the income-earning capacity capitalised it will reflect all these conditions. Natur-

ally the valuer will value the Waipaoa River farms at six or eight - times as much per acre as the hill farm. The former will then pay six or eight times the amount of rates per acre as the latter. and rightly so, hut it is not right th,-it it should pay 12 or 16 times as much, as is the case as soon as' you pro ceed to deduct the value of improvements to arrive at the unimproved value. Suppose the fertile farm to be worth £SO per acre with £lO per acre- worth of improvements and the other to be worth £b per acre with £5 worth of improvements; then the ratable balance of the former will be £4O per acre and that ol the latter £3 per acre. Instead of paying about six times as much nitrates per acre as is proper on the productive capacity it will have to pay 13 times as much ! But you do not have to go to the inner ridings to find such comparisons ; the extremely fertile farm may easily be situated 30 or 40 miles away, perhaps almost adjacent to the Bill farm. The valuation will, of course, be lower in this case and the discrepancy will be less. Perhaps it may be L4O instead oi £SO per acre or five times as much as t he hill farm; then the unimproved or ratable value will lie £3O, or 10 times as much, and it will pay 10 times the rates per acre instead of five times, as ' it should.

Mr. Stafford says that the capital value system is a tax upon industry; and presumably the unimproved value system, lie will claim, encourages industry. Now there arc hundreds of farmers scattered all over the county .whose land bears a high proportion of unimproved to capital value. Many of them are small farmers whose holdings are highly developed and well farmed yet under the unimproved value, system every single one whose unimproved value is above tlie average proportion of 46 per cent is being penalised to a degree measured by the extent of the excess over the county average. I put it to Mr, Stafford, is it the case that, all these men are lazy or lacking in enterprise, or that all of them should in varying degree deserve punishment for their shortcomings by being made to pay rates out of all proportion to the earning powers of their farms?—Yours, etc., ‘ C. H. WILLIAMS.