LAND VALUATIONS.

Southland Times, Issue 14032, 13 February 1909, Page 5

LAND VALUATIONS.

SOME IMKIIESTLXG FIGURES. PUBLIC MEETING PROJECTED. During the Town Council discussion on Thursday on the valuations a number of instances of over-valuations were cited. Cr. McFarlane spoke of a properly in Esk street on which the capita! value had been raised £OO7. the unimproved value MHO (from ton to £ I,L!2r>) and the improvement value £225 —and no improvement had been put on the place, Cr. Oit considered that a mere haga telle. On one property he knew of the unimproved value, which in 1900 had been rated at £sa 1,52-1, had been raised to £520,1 IS. lie had also come across an instance of an increase of .122 per cent. Cr. Lain spoke of a case in which a resident had had an acre of land in the south part of the town on the market for some time and lie could not find a purchaser. He was offering ilie hind on easy terms, and yet Uie land was now valued at £25 more than the price put on it by the owner in offering it for sale on terms; or from £SO to £7O more than tile cash price he asked tor it. Another section in Hu rick street had in .1001. been valued (unimproved! at £SO; in iOotl Uie unimproved valuation was £llO and now it was raised to £IOO. 'i'llis was an increase of nearly 75 per rent., yet he didn’t tiling that anyone would contradict him when ho said that if any of these places were pul up for sale today they would not fetch within 2a per cent, of what they would have brought two years ago. Personally he was not greatly affected as lie held corporation leases. The .ndy thing was Hull his improvement value had been increased £2. and he was curious to know by what system that increase had been arrived at. The buildings were wooden ones and they had not even been painted between Hil Iwo periods of valuation; and wooden places did not usually inciease in value, not even £2 in two years. Cr. .McKay quoted a numbin' of the valuations made in a particular block, and pointed oul how unevenly the valuations were made. Seel ions which were nearer the town and therefore relatively mure valuable than those situated ! further away were valued at less titan the more remote ones. In one ease a llucuiation in a valuation was apparently explained by the word ’’ widow ’’ bracketed with the numbers. How was that? They were not a charitable aid board. The Mayor also cited a ease of a property which had been placed in his hands for sale at the price of £oso, a price which lie had been unable to obtain for it. The unimproved valuation was pul down at £520. fie thought that the trouble was caused by the fact Unit the vainer teas not acquainted with district values, anil that his assessments hail been based on the selling' prices of two years ago as revealed by the figures in the Heeds Ofliee. —Northern! in Arms. — Probably in no other part of Die district is dissatisfaction so unanimous and so witiely expressed as in -Nonhead. Here Ihe valuations of 190S are so widely separated from those of 1900 in every instance that surprise can scarcely he IV! t that the ratepayers are indignant. H is admitted that in several instances in -HOG the valuations Were based on 100 low an estimate, but in the effort : t reetilicalion the valuer has, it is considered, made it is assessments excessively high- Anil this extreme basis has boon maintained throughout the whole area of Northern!. So keenly do Die ratepayers resent the valuations that they have already set to work to organise a public meeting of protest, and this will lie held in Allen’s Hall next Thursday evening. For Uie purpose an exhaustive list of the Northend valuations showing the increases made in the unimproved value is beingdrawn up to lie submilled to the meeting. As the figures are interesting a number of them arc given below. They are; — —Unimproved Values,—■ 1902. 1900. £ Murray . • .... 2ao 100 Todd .... ~ 200 100 Allan ...... 250 150 Park ...... 250 100 McKenzie . . . 225 100 Sinclair .... 225 155 CruickshanU . . 200 115 England . . ... 272 ISO Lee ...... 275 12,5 Welsh ..... 225 320 Undrill . . ... 22:5 100 Kaesido .... 200 75 Campbell .... 200 SO Sband 260 115 Lillierap 525 200 J. T. Thomson . 2075 1295 Whitaker . . . 200 90 Wyers 200 SO Adcock .... 275 70 Brook 250 75 Robinson .... 220 50 Masters .... 275 100 Blue ..... 225 90 Guthrie .... 225 S5 Steans ..... 235 110 Seifert 275 10 C. Hannah . . • i2O 110 Vernon .... 120 90 U. Hannah ... 325 125 Hawkins .... 275 110 Pratt 170 72 Mrs Hawkins . . 175 75 Morrison .... 25Q 200 Giller 300 150 Moffett .... 300 110 Howie .... 200 100 Noble ..... 300 110 Sncyd 300 140 Timpany 350 105 Grant .... J-7a S5 Wallace .... 275 105