STATE LAND VALUATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 831, 1 June 1910, Page 8

STATE LAND VALUATIONS.

NOW AND TEN YEARS AGO. STRIKING COMPARISONS. Tho most discussed question at the farmers'. conferences .held throughout tho Dominion last week was probably that of land valuation. Complaints were made I) 3* many speakers of what they considered excessive increases in Die valuation of their own and their neighbour.-. 1 properties, and. they alleged thai an unjustifiable' inflation had taken place. It was stated that prices had 'beeii forccd up by fictitious values placed on properties when •exchanges were effected without tho handing over of any money, and'ithat imprudent purchases on deferred payments at an unwarranted* figure had led to tho valuation of surrounding properties on the same tcale, and gradually to the inflation of values through whole districts. The subject is an interesting but difficult one, for there are so many factors which enter into land . .valuing that it is not easy to generalise, or,^-indeed »to arrive at any very positive conclusion on the position as a whole. In order to throw as much light as possible on the subject we have compiled a table showing the ratio of increase-in the'latest tec-year period 1 for which complete statistics are available, that from IS9B to 1908. In the table the increase in population is shown, tho increase, in production,, and finally the increase in the. unimproved ; value - of the rural land of the Dominion. "The figures are - as under:— Per- ... _ cent> ape of . 1898.;., 19D8. Inc. Total population ." 743,463''. 960,642 29 Town population .351,728 501,845 43 Rural population •• 458,797 19 Sheep ' • 19,673*725 . : 22,449,053 12 Cattle 1,203,024' " '''1,773.326 51 Produce exported £10;324,988 £15,894,530 52 Occupied i holdings (n0.)... 62,639 .Zi 75,152' 20 Cultivated land (ac.) 12,024,519.-679, 943 30 Improvements on rural- land ... £31,977,750 •'-* £52,259,413 64 Unimproved value . • *i. "of..rural land £63,732,516'£123,341,850 95 From these figures' it •will be seen that the unimproved value" of 'the rural land has* increased' iu,.a far. -greater ratio than has. either population, production* or even improvements. "There are, however; other 1 factors,- such ; .as • improved • access.'JfoUthe'. rural lands, and so on, 1 whicli. statistically. The table shows that,\ besides feeding ,about a third .more people 1 locally than before, the;, farmers naveexported. over half as much produce again as they did in. .1898.'' The amount. of- farm produce consumed locally • cannot be, arrived at except on 'i speculative basis, but its percentage --of 'increase*is'likeJx!; to remain fairly-constant with t-hat'of the increase iii Tliiri il 'oiily been . 29 per cent.; and it follows that tho increase in the total production of tho land ' v;ill; havej been Jowfci;." and not a higher, rate than that of the'produce exported; l" 77 ;,.' M { / . •» 5 ' One of the most , significant features of the : table 'is' the "increase, in the towjvdwelling population, which, has been well on-the'way to doubling itself in the ten years period, while thV country population has increased byburely a fifth. The towns are-growing more than twice as' rapidly as the country is beiti* settled. It is interesting to note aiso that tlio, number; of;, occupied , foldings has just kept 1 ' yrite v.it'n the growth in the- rural, population, with only one per cent, to spare. The cultivated land includes, crops, sown grasses, fallow, gardens, aiid orchards. The occupied holdings do not include holdiugs of less than one acre in area.

The percentages of increase in leading items in different counties, afford- interesting comparisons. Unfortunately,' most of tho larger and mote important counties have had their boundaries altered since: 189S, but in the table below tho rates of increase in five counties in the Wellington-Hawke's Bay-Tarauaki. dis-, tricts" are ' set but:—' ■

■■■.■' '■■ g ■ i ' i't ■ £.„•■.■■"■ „; .p ■ §. "...-■. : p. a.' p'-\5 "5 t=2 Horowhenua 83 10" 119 43 110 200 Rangitikei ... 28 71 ISO 23 8G 167 Patea .......... 1 15 85 8 87 117 Pahiatua U 2G 38 '65 6G 113 Hawke's Bay 0 lit* C 28 38 101 "Decrease. In. only one case is. the; ratio, of increaso in the land valuation .approached by that of any other items. • This is Rangitikei, where dairy cows have increased by 150 per cent; only 17 • per cent less than- the valuation increase'..' Summing up, one may say that, while tho ■ statistical position is insufficient to gauge the real state of things, it, nevertheless, as far as it goes, fails to show ai; increase in the production of the ■ land, comparable to the increased valuation. Whether the factors which cannot be shown statistically are sufficient to make up the difference is another matter.