THE UNHAPPY LANDHOLDER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 26, 25 October 1907, Page 9

THE UNHAPPY LANDHOLDER.

CONFISCATION AND COMPENSATION.;' '• Sirjf-Por 'some -years' charges have been made. agaiiist owners .'of estates .compulsorily taken' by ' the*' Government that .they have, demninded .excessive' prices, in rosp'ect of sucli estates/, and; as . evidence ,thoreof/and for pur- 1 /{toes' ;of, comparison the valuation for land tax purposes has: been produced. ! Latterly extreme charges of 'perjury and suboruation of, perjury'' have been;; made against these owners ; by'the Ministeroorf r Lands and the Attorney-General. , ,/ The j periodic' attacks,, of this nature upon, land-owners by the .class of Parliamentarian referred; to by the.momber. for Ashburton at a late sitting of .the! House can 'generally bo allowed to pass ' without notice.. It (is by these'utterances in and out of Parliament that they .trust to c aru ■ their honorarium. But when; these allegationsiare made by two trained and,experienced lawyers of apparently, ihonest/fconvictions we .'may . be pardoned for / enquiring ilito the question as, to whether they' are really ; honest convictions or merely made in.obedience to. a . .bias which .often arises i from' the ; superficial cultivation of a forensic, mind. . That the, Attorney-General should , be' ignorant of ; the way , in valuations aro , made up -seems, impossible, as his firm of -solicitors'is now fortunate enough to act; for. the, Government ~in the taking of estates .'.under.;, .the; ' Act. i. The'.? AttorneyGeneral must-know, that in the: cases of what he calls excessive;valuations the; Government cannot ; expect;to compensate the:man•; dis-possessed-of,* his /.property., against his 'Will, and I;,willrhere;refor..him'to the extract at the end; of: this letter , from; ono who ! is accepted as, the, greatest purist:of his time."; ''Now,-,as,everyone knowsi.tbat both'the At-torney-General, and the r Minister of Lands hive'speculated' in land,', we need, not'go into , further particulars with respect ;to ; their speculations;; ..But ibeiiig speculators' they have gone in the direction of' land with the hppe of making good -fat interest .thereupon,' and.l;should ,not'-.bo far'wrong if from 7 the representations made. to them they did ' riot expect/, ai/ready < 20, 'per /cent;'« I; ! merition; these' matters, .not; for' the purpose' of bringing them off ' their lofty,' ■pedestals 1 , 1 but for the piirpose; of; obtaining a basis'.fdr the case which I >m' going to put before you. Let-us : now take. the case of anVestato ownor r.whose estate isvabout to be taken' by the IGovernment,. arid'; let 1 us' start ' out . with him as a pioneer..•• He vjs' a '. : manwith a capitM : of.£2s,ooo, and ho desires to talco.up land for, purposos of sheep and : mixed 'farming. 'He' knows that,; if lie likes to'be idle and noti enter into any producing industry, he ca,ri 'get!from 4£ ;to " 5, per cent, for' his mbnoy. However, being strong,' capable, energetic,' and; enthusiastic,, he finally selects a farm .for. which he has- to pay £50,000. To enable him to purchase this 1 , farm he has to ' With . the'exercise of care v and commercial knowledge he is enabled, to get *;tmsv'money/; : ;afe': 4i'. pcr\ cent./'instead of. at;the ordinal rate of's per cent/ Thus, instead .of having'to pay'.£l2so a year' in : terest ;on :his 'loan he .has:' to'; pay out £1125,! i. thereby.' -'saving ■ £125/ a . year in per ,ceht;;--;,practically ■' make's; his " enterprise, worth;£s2,soo' 'as•' in:income'producing "in-' dustry, ' • ' Now, if this investor m the farm, said before, werd satisfieditd!be'. idle' arid'iplace'his money in the hands of others for investment he would receive an" income, of's per cent, as interest. / What .is he , entitled to realise fromi'it'i'wh'en; in vestedinihe farm?'; Is there any onejwho will denyrthat ho, is entitled to 8. per on' his (l own money,'buttontho money: which .he ;KaS;'borrowed at .per cent;?'/Hence'! his .income from the .farm, valued/at/£so,ooo'Will,be ,a' r year, .and.' after paying ,'£ll2s';iriterest '0%the..£25)000. mortgage moneys .he-,will; hare : '£2B7s-asi ;ani annual, oinc^irie/from ..ihis^farm.-///NbWj.;/I'' here ■ ailbwed/tliis "farmer only :;8... per cent!, but. it /.is /intelligiblo, to evetyonb j that y there ■ are farmers'i.mth' management of; stud stock, f etc.-,' .who. would j realise'much-.'mbre'than.'B per.cfint:,,.afldi-their, properties !would be .thevmore/valuable to'-j them-in consequence/ The: income, of-a; far-.; mer iis! derived; only in part . from . the! actual value of.his/land. .There;.'are -.many other ' elements concerned in tho. inooine/ and thereupon.,as.'an;inc.qmc..producer..a' farm tiiay have a very, jwido range of; 'valuesto thevarioussuccessiveoccupiersiwhile; thoy aro in'possession. , , ,/. ii-i; ; ; The; farmer whose case-we. took as an example! gets a clear income 0f>£2875 after paying interest-on. the .borrowed money/ this :being 8 per cent, on,: ;his investment.-" The. difference between.; the current; rate ■of • inpercent. ; and;tho : B;per cent; which he 3;. pe r; centi- is his', reward' for thqj exercise;of ability; energy ( a!nd; sacrifice, -'iri-jthe, (management ,;of ;;his investment: If you compulsorily. take this man's property from . him,' 'how, are you going to compensate him?- /Let us see what he loses. First he loses 3 per; cent.;, ,; on , t . hisown,' capital 'of £25,000,' which amounts to £750 ;. secondly; he . loses .the.use .pf .the mortgaged money; as tht mortgagee ,loves, his security, / .and •-'will;'require'. repayment,! and .this! loss 'will - amount t0,£875;: This man's loss therefore by the compulsorily, . of,' his - property will amount ,to £1625 -a year, for his income will' be reduced, from; £2875 to £1250.

NoW; under the lato system of settling compensation to be given: to tho: owner-whose land was oompulsorily taken,, there, was/continual struggle .between the Government and tho owner, and the Government sometimes. found that 'they ' really had; to pay : the' owner compensation for depriving- him of his investment;'.'. Tho compensation]' necessarily, as I have shown, should be, considerably more thai: the actual value' for taxing'purposes of th? land taken.: I .say .for .taxing l -purposes - for tho following reason :-land. itself ;has no fixed : value; .and,,it may vary from day to day if there- is'a. settler, ;and ia: purchaser. -' The farmer-to ,whom I here:,referral 'as' an example 'requires ;B'.per cent, for; his investment in land;:,, Another,investor may come along' who ,had' a difficulty in finding open investments for his : money, and ;who is satisfied'if he only, makes 5 per cent.,: !,This latter will give a greater price than tho former, but it would be unfair to the taxpayer to fix this as a fair valuo'for, taxing purposes, bccausoyou do not; allow him sufficient reward for his investment. , i Itwill: therefore bo clear that even under the old system of assessing compensation,; the owner whose, land was ' confiscated ; did' not receiyq, full value therefor.' As to the : neW[ enactment, it must appear to any one likely to be affected by it the most iniquitous-legislation: that any civilised country could adopt,; and in fact it is a reversion to the, old agrarian laws of Tiberius Grac- ■■ ohus. V :, -v, v ■■■■'' I will not trespass/further upon your space except to- quote from the groat •'■ purist 1 referred torrrßeritham—who when ana,lysing the evils resulting;from attacks-on property says as follows:— -•-*•• ;

''Everything which I possess or to which I have: a title; ,1 consider , in my own mind to belong to. me. • I.mako.it-a basis' of niy expectations, and of tho' hopes of those' dependent upon me, and I form;my plan of life accordingly/:-:. Evory part, of my '. property may have-in my estimation, besides its intrinsic, value, a value of affection as an inheritance. from my ancestors, as- the reward of my own labour, or as the future dopond-. enco of my children. Everything about ,it representsjto'.my.-eye that part of myself which I have put-into it—those cares, that industry,- that.; economy which denied itself present-pleasures to make provision for tho future.;. Thus our property becomes part of and cannot be torn from us without moving us to tho quick. : "jWhen insecurity; reaches a certain point, the fear of losing provents us from enjoying what we possess already. Tho care of preserving condemns' us to a thousand sad and p'amfu! precautions-which yet'aro always liable to fail of their ond. Enjoyment becomes sombro, furtive and solitary. It fears' to show, itself lest cupidity should bo ■ informed of a chance to plunder."—l am, etc., ■ ' : :• ' ' r , '■ X;,' Wellington;, October 22. 1