A Point for Mr. Paterson.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXVI, Issue 13351, 12 April 1911, Page 3

A Point for Mr. Paterson.

TO THS EDITOB. Sir,—l notice that in his letter on harbour matters Mr J. Paterson sates that if the suggested harbour rate of Id were struck he would have to pay £SO a, yeaf on his 300-acre farm, valued at £4o‘ an acre, and that this -would he equal to a XIOOO mortgage. It would be interesting to know what was the price per acre that Mr Paterson gave for his farm, and its present unimproved value per acre. The difference between the two would, I venture to say, show that- Mr Paterson has benefited to the tune of a good deal more th in £IOOO by the growth and prosperity of Wanganui, and by public expenditure on public improvements. And I put it to Mr Paterson and to all others in a similar position (hat if they were required to hand over to the public only a small proportion of the annual value of these increased land values produced by the public, there need be no hesitation whatever about embarking upon the new harbour scheme, or upon anv similar similar scheme for the benefit of tVanganni and district. Take, for example, a 300a>To farm, bought, say, 20 years ago, for tio per acre, a total of £.’5000. In th» 20 years (he owner of the farm has spent, cy, another £lO per acre on improvements as yet unexhausted, making his total expenditure on the land and on improvements £OOOO. But the property is now valued at £4O per acre, or £ 12,000 in all. 'I his shows an “unearned increment,” as it is called—unearned bv the landowner, but earned bv_ the public—of no less than £>>ooo. which at 5 per cent, means £3OO a year, or six times the £SO that the Id rate may, if the worst comes to the worst, take from Jir Paterson. Further, it is certain that the construction of sucli a harbour as i; contemplated will considerably increase land values iu Wanganui and district : so that in his opposition to the scheme Mr Paterson is “standing iu his

im light,” and iu that of the district ;enerally. It is, indeed, more than probible that if the harbour improvements vere carried out on the betterment priniple—taking tlie increased land values aused by the improvement to pay for the improvement—a handsome surplus would ;o left over for still further improvements. —I am, etc., ARTHUR WTIHY. Wanganui, April 10, 1911.