LAND SALES ACT HAS FALLEN DOWN

Chronicle (Levin), 10 April 1947, Page 4

LAND SALES ACT HAS FALLEN DOWN

-Press Association

-J9 , - . Hinders Rather Than Helps Ihe Ex-Serviceman

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, April 9. The Servicemcn's Settlement and Land Saies Aet Has been more. successful in restricting saies of land than in settiing servicemen. This is the view of jVlr. R. J. Larldn, Matamata, express= ed in an address t.Q the New Zea* land Law Society today. He cited the ease of one returned seryieeman who had been forfunate enough to hear- in advance of no "fewer than 12 houses for sg_le, He had been lucky enough to rfeaeh second place in a queue of buyers on a number of oeca^ sions but so far, although still trying, he had not yet achieved a house for his wife and family, This man had stated that of the 12 houses sold, in' only oue" ease was the land saies price paid by the" trny er . ' 'On the; other hand, ' ' said Mr. Larldn, "to secipe bush nes's premises, he states that one qf the largest institntions in this eountry conipelled him to pay a substantial sum before he could enter as a tepant. The sum was paid, I am told, because others just as anxions to start in business would have met this demand for the illegal pa'yment.- ' ' Of what use then is such legisiation to this particular returned man?" asked Mr. Larldn. "He has his business premises but it may be th.at he ean now rely only 011 a rehabilitation loan to buy or build a house 'and he will be lucky iiideed if he ean stretch his loan moneys to cover what seem to be aetual present-day priees. The result is that -in the Matamata borough many properties have three differing valuations — one for rating purposes, the second for the Land Saies Act, and the third a sale price known only to the parties themselves. To my mind the remedy for this state of affairs is not more amending regulations but more farms and more houses. Farmers are reluctant to sell because high taxatiou, coupled with the diffiqulty of reinvestment, operates ag a severe cut in income.. To . build a house . one must haye a section. I can see no valid objection to exempting the gales of land" where the nonsideration is 110 more than £200 or £300. I know many more buildihg sections would be made available in such borougjis as Matamata and,

further, that the rating positiqn wquld be greatly eased qs the result of such an exemption. The oost of hqusing would be -cheapcr. in itself but at least some adjus|ment of the 1942 basis of • values would do much .to check -whnt qppeers to be an eyer expanding black market, as the, result qf which many vendors and . puj> chasers must sign qmended land saies deelarations with perjury jn , their hearts." ; , Through the Statutes Revisiqn - Committee • or indeed through a 1 5 cqm mittee specialiy conveued. for the purpose, said Mr. Larkin, the Land Saies Aqt should again be scrutinised with a' view to reetify- . ing the auomalies and producing an act which would settle serviqemen and free the sale of land frorn any breath of suspieion-of illegali ty,, V; ' . . Bound up with the Land Saies Act was the system of grantjng rehabilitation lqang . fo servicemen. Delays would be redueed if the Rehabilitation Department were granted its own funds, It wQuid also be an improvement if an applicant eould be told, as of right, how nearly the yaluation for loan purposes aecorded with the vendor's selling price. "The Bank of New Zealand," said Mr, Larkin, "was aequired ' by the Government, we are told, to assist in the rehabilitation of servicemen. It should certainly accelerate matters if the bank were appointed as the agent of the State Advances Corporation fco give at least a preliminary "deeision on an application for q loan to purchase farm property or for a business loan." " At a later stage in the eonference the following remits wepe carried with out dissent.: "That the council of the New Zealand Law Society be asked further to eonsider and inquire into the working of sueh tribunals and to , press for such remediol measures as the eouncil may tbink nqcessary or desirable." "That the eonstitution aud proeedure of the new tribunals 'aye such as to lead to a lowerfng .,qf the traditional standards of - administrqtion of/justice." It was decided to. forward the remits to the Attorney-General.