RECLAIMED LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 224, 20 September 1940, Page 2

RECLAIMED LAND.

QUESTION OF VALUATION. WHAXGAB.EI, thie day. The Wliangarei Harbour Board proposes to resume land reclaimed by it and now held by the Government M small farms. In consideration of improvements, the Commissioner of Crown Lands n~ommended that the harbour board jwy £3500 to resume land held by the Government. The August meeting approved of this, and the secretary reported yesterday that drafts of the memorandum of lease to be made between the board and tenants had been forwarded to the Department for Hh approval. The report of the special committee appointed to further the negotiations' was received by the board. Mr. K. M. Stevens recorded his vote against this, objecting to the clause which gar* the harbour board power to raiee a loan for £3500 without taking a poll of ratepayers. Methods of valuing reclaimed land for rating purposes were criticised by Mr. P. Gardner. It appeared that the value of improvements was partly added to the unimproved value. Mr. Gardner gave an instance at Helensville, where an unimproved value of £10 per acre was placed on reclaimed land, while 10/ an acre was placed on the adjoining unreclaimed property. By judgment of an Assessment Court, the £10 had been reduced to £4. It was decided to ask the Harbour Boards' Association to obtain a ruling from the Valuation Department as to the policy adopted in valuing reclamations.