DOMINION LAND VALUES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 8

DOMINION LAND VALUES.

/'A REPLY. , (To tlie Editor.) j Sir,—Your correspondent, "J.T.K.," is evidently suffering from the prevailing "earth hunger" that is so noticeable in Now Zealand at the present time. . There are many ways of acquiring land in this country without paying £30 or £40 per acre for it. There are cases in this district., where farms ; h,av.e, changed. hands at £60 per acre, •ariij.then, after a good lobk'round other Jess favoured districts, the man that sold for £60 has returned and bought back the same farm for £80. The value of a farm can only bo estimated by; the revenue it produces, and "J.T.K." is very wide of the mark when he compares English land values with this well-favoured country. For all practical purposes, the London market is just as handy to us as to the man living within a few hours of it, because we can put our dairy produce on the market during the English winter, when the farmers' supplies at Home are very limited. Then we have our genial climate, making' it unnecessary, to. house our cattle; neither do we have to use the same large amount of artificial manures, and in many other ways we are better off here. In looking through the advertisement land page of your popula'r paper, I pickcd at random. the following freehold farms (according to "J.T.K." the highest-priced farming land in England is not more than from £20 to £30 per acre; I very much doubt if this is so): ■■ r

1500 acres,, Waverley; good road, half pasture; buildings and yards; V2Jsheep country; 255. per acre.

■729 acres, 4} miles from_ railway station; and cropping land; 8roomed house, stable, barn, and woolshed; 10 paddocks; plenty water; price, £7 10s. per acre.

520 acres, North Taranaki; splendid papa country, half in grass; first-rate 25-sheep country; price, £3 10s. 300 acres, Bay of Plenty district; good, undulating country, near factory, school, etc.; 6-roomed kauri house; £3.

144 acres, beautiful dairy farm; sea coast; freehold; £12 10s. ,

729 acres; cropping and fattening farm; mid-Canterbury; -£7 10s. f In conclusion, I should like to inform "J.T.K." that farming land ranges in New Zealand (North Island), from, say, £2 per acre to £80, according to the improvements and returns obtainable. • I should say "J.T.K." relies too much upon the glowing advertisements of land agentß, and is without any practical experience of 'lan*}. Thanking you in anticipation of your inserting this letter, and trusting it will allay any serious alarm felt by "J.T.K." re the land values in this progressive country,—l am, etc., •'..■.- A.H.R. Midhirst, Taranaki.'