Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1947 A TEST OF LAND VALUES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 97, 21 February 1947, Page 4

Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1947 A TEST OF LAND VALUES

DOMINION-WIDE interest focussed upon the recent appeal case by the owners of Awaroa Station, when members of the Holds worth'family sought to vary the Government valuation of £44 per acre for an area comprising perhaps the largest holding on>. the Rangitaiki Plains. The case for the claimants exceeded the Government’s figure by £29 per acre, or well over 50 per cent, of the official valuation laid down by the State. As a result the round sum of £IOO,OOO was involved. The case was regarded far and wide as a test of strength between property-owner and State, while locally it served the dual role of establishing official valuation figures for land on the mid-plains, adjacent to Awaroa. The decision will be awaited with no little interest. A backgrounds to the claims of both parties may be claimed to consist almost entirely of the development and transformed nature of the land since the ov/ners first took it up in its rough state. The task of breaking it in, of fencing and clearing it, and finally of establishing it in heart pastures, which would carry permanently dairy and sheep farms equal to the best, are the actual values upon which all assessments in the case have been based (apart of course from the valuation of the buildings on the estate). This being so it is rather amazing to note the extremes to which the parties have gone, in arriving at the final figures —£44 as against £73. Both are allegedly based alike upon the fairest possible calculations; both are backed by sworm statements made in court by experienced an unimpeachable authorities; and finally both again join in declaring that they have no wish s to under-estimate the discernment or ability of the opposition, but merely desire a fair settlement for the value of the land. The evidence of land assessors from this district and elsewhere was taken into careful consideration, and only upon technical points of calculation were they apparently at variance. If the evidence is true, and we have every reason to agree that it was, the case can serve as one of the most glaring in the history of the Land Sales Appeal Court where ! the clash of official opinion with regard to valuation of land, has shown such amazing disparity. With the arbitratory fixing of the value of Awaroa Station, by the Court, will be sets a precedent for plains farmers who are just as likely to be either disappointed or agreeably surprised.