THE FARM.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13491, 10 June 1914, Page 8

THE FARM.

LAND VALUES

The assertion that- land values in Groat Britain are no higher than in New Zealand cannot be borne out by facts. A little while ago £5760 was given for 23 acres of land in the Island of Jersey, which is equal to £250 per acre. This small farm was used for potato growing and was in no way remarkable for its fertility or for its buildings. Good land in England suitable for small farms readily commands £200 per acre and £6 and £8 per acre rental, in addition to rates, taxes, etc., is not uncommon (says the "New ZeaTand Herald"). In France as much as £27 per acre rental is paid for onion growing land, whilst equally high rentals are given in Holland and Belgium for similar purposes.

After all it is difficult to make any real comparison in land values unless conditions are equal. To take the mere rental value or sale value of a farm in Essex or Suffolk and compare it with farms about Suffolk or Napier leads to nothing. One would have to know •every detail of charges, improvements, and returns before any opinion could bo formed as to which was the cheaper. One thing seems tolerable certain, and that is the farmers of New Zealand seem to be averagely more prosperous than their fellows in the older countries.

The real test of land values does not lie in the price of one or two exceptional farms, but in the price at which ordinary farms or farm lands can be obtainable to-day in New Zealand at •under £10 an acre. There are larger areas still of unimproved land always ■under offer at from £3 to £6 an acre. The Crown and the Native Land Boards every month throw open for selection considerable areas at all sorts of prices. At the present time the Lands Department is offering for sale on the Haiiraki Plains, near Auckland, 20 farm sections, at prices ranging from £3 to £16 an acre. Some of this land is as rich as any in the world, and would readily compare with the famous fen land of Lincolnshire. Thirty-two farm sections are also being offered in the Moerangi Block/ between Raglan

and Kawhia, at prices ranging from 7& 6d to £2-4s 9d per acre, so that it is absurd to say that farm land in New Zealand is just as high in price as it is in the Old Country. Thero is not the slightest doubt that any intelligent settler could buy land in the- northern parts of New Zealand in a, dozen different districts, and could turn it into good useful dairying or sheep-fattening farms at a total cost not exceeding £10 or £15 per acre, and in some places he could do it for much less. If there were only as much attention devoted to the question of high-class farming as there is to high-priced land in New Zealand, it might be possible to treat the question seriously, but it may be taken for granted that those who complain the most about high-priced land know the least about high-class farming, and usually believe that land in grass is in the ideal state of cultivation.