GOVERNMENT LAND VALUATIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12909, 24 February 1906, Page 6

GOVERNMENT LAND VALUATIONS.

THE -VALUER-GENERAL INTERVIEWED.

Mr G. F. C. Campbell, the ValuerGeneral, chief officer of~the Land Yaiuation Department, being in Timaru yesterday morniEg,a member of our staff waited upon him>with a request for comments.upon the statements made by the Willowbridge deputation. :to the Minister in charge : of the Department the previous day. Mr Campbell was quite willing to do this, as tne fault found with the valuation by members of the deputation clearly showed that they, and therefore presumably many ctnei i.csupiers of land, do not understand the principles on which the valuations aie made, and he was glad Gf the oppor.uiiity to offer a few remarks in cori-cUon of some erroneous opinions that v.ere expressed, . and in explanation of the duty and methods of the Land Valuation Department. Running down our report in yesterday's issue : for texts, Mr Campbell began Avith a remark -of Sir William. Steward,.. that the valuers only according to what they see, ,and do not take into account an " invisible factor" of value—the expense a man had been put to in clearing, land of weeds for instance. To a certain extent this is incorrect, to a certain extent cor-' rect. It is incorrect as a general-state-ment;. correct as to the specified'instance. Any improvement- of a permanent-xature the ultility of ; which is not exhausted, the character of which can be recognised and: the value of which can be "estimated, jis taken into ..account by the valuer as' an improvement. But this does not apply to clearing land of weeds. This is looked upon, as a maintenance work, and its effects ore not necessarily- permanent. *A valuer might as well be expected to take, into account the time or money spent in trimming hedges or repairing other fences. Eepairs and maintenance are special!v exempted-, by; the statute from, the cateeorv of improvements. The theoretical value is the value of bare land in its natural condition, and the clearing of weeds should no more be allowed as> an improvement than the allowing of clea'n land to become infested with weeds as a reasoa for rethe value, or the man who kept his land clean by farming it properly would be penalised for'doing so, compared inth a careless or slovenly neighbour The Act- clearly recognises" this-; the Legislature did not contemplate allowmg theiSeari ing of weeds to be counted as an improvement to be deducted from the capital valne--The object of the valuation is to arrive at the " unimproved" value, and not at a value temporarily reduced by mismanagement, any, more than a value improved bygood management. That is the theory., but allowances are made in practice, where '■■ the circumstances - evidently call for them. Special reference was made to couch. Now we know that couch was purposely sown as.a pasture grass, and sown grasses are counted .among improvements. \ The valuer _<ean scarcely be expected to distinguish, between one grass and. another r when the pasture comes to be broken up for •cropping. The same process, has to be. gone through,; more often„,repeated in the! case of ..couch grasses, no doubt, and the! pasture, is lost in all cases, as an: improvement. .Claims- are frequently" made, for' - and -these claims "kie allowed,; so long as the drains are manifestly, serving their ostensible purpose. If the necessity, for them passes away,they are treated as "exhausted" improvements, and are he* longer allowed ; for. If any :class of improvement, "invisible" or visible, has been overlooked in. any case,, if the owner will communicate with the Valuer-General, giving details, the case <will be fully gone into, and an explanation of the posiripn:will-be sent. : If necessary; the district valuer will be senfc to confer with the-.objector, or he may be asked by the Valfier-General to revise his valuation. This is ;the course complainants ought to follow ;■. they would find it far more satisfactory than discussing ex parte state-i ments at public meetings. Our representative mentioned the case of' an " invisible factor " described to the Land Commission by. an Albury settler,, vrho.] said he :had improved his "land by filling I up natural,limestone pits, which, when, filled were of course .. no longer : visible. Mr Campbell, said"such work would be, allowed _. as an' im. t if properly authenticated, as ah expenditure which had added to the permanent value of the land'•'! by ctorectmg natural disadvantages. The question; of invisible improvements was ai very for on most farms. the amountr of labour and capital expended soon.expressed anyselling price, and if such expenditures; ,;were to oe allowed the improved value would, reach .vanishing point and become a minus quantity;: It was a principle. 6f State policy that land should bear some-share of the taxation, and it would not accord with that policy that ..the more expense a man put 1 into the working of his land the less it should pay.

Allowance is made for clearing land of bush, because that is its natural "condition and it-must be cleared to 'fit it for profitable occupation... Its market price is affected by the consideration whether it has to be cleared/'and'has been cleared. Any expense:'*required to bring the land intense: is .allowed for. ■ , The next'thing mentioned. Mr Campbell said he scarcely liked to touch upon, as it was a question of policy. Sir Wm Steward said the freeholders would have more confidence,:in a local.valuer.., He did.

however, make some remarks on this point. The present valuers were men .absolutely independent of results, paid by salary, who had no object or motive to either under or ether, value. Everyone woitld remember the dissatisfaction there used to be with the inequalities of valuations under the local system, in adjacent localities. Moreover, if local valuers were appointed they must still value in accordance with the law.

.The notice now sent to each .owner, by the valuer is" not final. . It represents the valuers "idea of the value, and is an invitation' to the owner to consider it and see whether he agrees with it sufficiently to accept it- without demur. If not, he" has two successive courses open,' to get his views adopted in preference to the valuer's. He can-communicate with the Department, r.nd.if ih-=- Department do; ,:ot agree with J.im, he can appeal to ...e Assessment

1 Uouit. \ Mr Clieverton spake of the Assess-, ment Court in what Mf Campbell considered an unaccountable war. The Court is composed of a Stipendiary Magistrate. ' -who as a rule confines himself to seeing 1 that the cases are properly conducted, and : to deciding questions -of law, tearing prac- ' tical questions to the two assessors. These J two assessors—and here comes in she extra- ; ordinary part of the criticism on the ; Court—are local asen, men of good repute, ; selected for their experience:" these position is purely honorary; they hare nothing to gain or/-lo.se, certainly nothing to gain by. the jaising. of: valuations, as they, may ' be jland-own-ers themselves, probably, .are, so that it cannot be said that ths assessorsare likely to 1»e. .specially favourable, to ~ the Department, And the two assesso:s ean_ override the' Magistrate, if it came \o a difference of opinion between them. The demand for . local valuers, which is impracticable, seems to be moie than met or the appointment of a majority.' of • local men to the Assessment Conn. ' Mr Cheverton spoke of the; .©jajecter being at a. disadvantage Deforce the Assessment C-av.;. The valuer might, witfe much more reason make &at assestljjim. ? It was obvious on the face of it that" the: vainer must' stand almost alone, wliilsi. an- objector could aet a-cloud of.witnesses, if he had a. good <?ase. The valuer would have very great difacuitv in getting men to come- forward to support him their sseighfeorsr. He really could not uaderstand how sr.cli an opinion could have "grown : in/ about the Assessment? Court. The- people; ought to have the fallest m the Cocrt. .if, they be-Seved- in. local men.. It wus really the owners' Court, of Appeal, rather than the Department's-,, and erarr faciSv was given fci-. lodging- and prosecuting, ap"peals. Waat of confidence ii* the Assessment Court, if it eiisted,. ; must hare arisen from appeals Seing. made'againss: reas-ana&le valuations, that the. Court must, sustain because they were within the lasr,. r.eq.sriri~£g; I valuators to-express selling, values. ! Mr Campbell next-,deair with/, the: stata;inents of Mr Chev'erton regarding; exee-wive | prices : given for on Wiilowbridg&. | It will be found, Campbell,, that | the special have, been takea iinto account, and the*"Y ( ar& not jmade on those prices.".... Department is Departjment , with a monthly .-rJisiiCoi r ali; sale* j.registered;.; the valuers^: : tagjiire-.; whether. ■ there -were any. special, -errenm'stanass iland:; ?the Deeds Department. usually stafa wha-. j.thef.. crops or stockl-were ihcludedi:in-;the I parchase. pfica. • The.-valuer has ; fhe : - list ;of sales? in • his district : in. receat "jean* ;always. before him,, and from these ho I should, hare-little: difficulty in gacgjng the; i market value of thee land in any part .of his ! district. Stock and crops-sold with the land are always, allowed, for in a:riving; at 'the standard of land-valsss'.. . One of the deputation made, aome lemark about "class distinctions-", between freeholders and leaseholders.. .The- Yalnation Department kEaw nothing, of .anv,. saaa distinction. The. Departmeiit/s • duty, was to arrive at a fair valuation, jentiralr. regardless, of the tenure .under.-which the land was held. Tien,, after the"'valuation bad been made, the. total, was divided between landlord and tenant if nacessao.,^..■--.. The complaintJmada about the : 'Sufden of taxes must chiefly refer, to lo.calTjates; for a very large, kumbex of land bc&iDiers pay no land tax; When- their ,knßrov£ -meats, exemption, and morigiga '-'Had'been .deducted from the value..'there-Tias nc£ thing left to tax. The Department had nothing whatever, to do with'fixing the local rates,, but only supplied to the best! of their ability a, basis on which the local 'rates could be"'levied equitably- over" the --yrliole of each.district. The. actual amount of the rates in amy case,, was determined .-by";-the local bodies. ■' In..^ver^jp'srtuof" the colony wheat* 'progress.' was "being made, ths; rates imusfe : be_ie%yj- r could be no ,v ■ One member; v'«xpiaio.'ed;that farmers, were- nofc given notice: when the valuer would He round- were instructed suchiptice wfierelrer pos-.' sible,| but it ..was impossible;""tol do,.it in every case. Some properties longer to value than others, longer' ; -.some; years than others, and the valuer must,take..whatever time was required in each case, so that he could not tell beforehand how much ground he could cover oh any given dar. and as each man had' a large", area, and "a large:number of properties to see, it. was impossible in many cases for him to give notice of the time of his visit. It was an .instruction to all valuers' that if possible they were to see and -confer.; with, the : and where practicable this.-was dooi-e. And if any owner wished.specially to .see : the valuer, the latter was always prepared to make ah 'appoiatment:- TW Dejrcrtrrratis

in; iact v.;ii prepared to go to any amount of trouble to get at an ' absolutely failvaluation of every parcel <of land. After the notices of assessment have been sent out the valuer would go round the district to meet and confer with those who were dissatisfied, and see what they had to say. Again Mr Campbell said that the officers cf the Department had no other interest thafi to do what they were appointed to do, and what the law, required them .to do. namely to arrive at a- fair estimate of the selling value of the land; and they were willing to take all reasonable trouble to arrive at that- estimate. Returning to the Assessment Court, Mr Campbell dealt with an assertion by a member of the deputation: " They did not care to go to the Assessment Court, for they were generally met with the question: "will you sell the property at our value?' The answer was that they would not. and the Court said that settled the objection." That, said Mr Campbell, is not a correct statement of what occurs. That form of question' would be an improper one. The form generally used is : "If you were wanting to sell this property, on ordinary terms. would you be satisfied to accept the Department's value?" That is a reasonable question, that does not contain an implied threat as the ether seems to do. We now. said the Valuer-General, come to a veiy important and a very large question, already briefly touched on ic connection with local rates. This is the remark of Mr Hayman that ".some of the Willowbridge land had been mrfe more valuable by the owners paying a drainage rate of 2s to 5s an acre and a maintenance rate a* well. Tha* should be allowed for in the valuation as an improvement, as they got nothing out of it. They gave £l7 10s for the land, and the valuation now was £25, because thev had drained it." That appeared to be "a very reasonable claim -at first sight, but when it was looked into it would be seen to be impracticable to allow that expenditure as an " improveement." Taking a general view o! the matter, it was obviously impossible to make that allowance in the case of cities with their drainage, water supply and lighting rates, then tramway rat€s and so on. The benefits could not possibly be divided! np as " improvement*." The harbour at Timaru might be claimed to be allowed ior in the valuation of every property in the district because every property pays a harbour rate, and every property benefits by the harbour. The case however is really much simpler. Part of Willowbridge has been drained, at the cost of the owners, who pay a rate on the. loan they raised. The drain has increased the value of their land 1 in- the market, but it has not increased it to- the-full extent of the value of the drain, as the deputation admitted. The liability to- the rate is a reduction, of value in the eyes of a buyer, therefore to reduce the valuation on account of the rate would mean deducting it twice oow. It is plain that » buyer will not give so much for liable to a heavy fixed rate as if that liability did not exist, therefoue the influence of the existence of the rata; already appear.? in selling values. And it land values- of- Willowbridge have gcac !;up in consequence of the drainage worft,. that shows'that the benefit- from the drain ■exceeds the drawliack of the burden* of Ui&' irate. The case- of the water-races" across the plains are precisely similar. On the x.kc hand their construction, tends to depreciate the value- of land-,, by making it ,?ia-ble to a rate ;fc» the sther hand their 1 existence to a still larger sxteaat increases di« value of the la ad, and the- balance of bsr.dit appears in isrreaseo: selling values, la conclusion, Mr &.<tiipbesT sail lie hoped t-j;C sellers would Talie.- notff of the Minis trs?* Kmsrks at Wa&nate;. iMsurinj; fiicm Ju-.-fSiii D-epiii-rmerf *»iied «i-y- -air play. If any were i!>sat:sfi<s*i: they .vitfjirld accept the Minister's invitstieir to- urrie; direct to the Department setting forth; dtitadls : and :tr.v rnne«ent;ttiois so"\jindc wink? (be ivT.v censKs'rJws?.