RUIN IN LAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 7

RUIN IN LAND.

Sir,—The heading of my letter is ominous, but I feel compelled by ono of my own experiences as a' fanner and a valuer to raiso a warning voice. The Government is casting broadcast over tha land increased sums' of nionev, monev they have borrowed. Naturally, 1 ask, is .ft being safely invested, and is. it doing any good or harm?' In tire past, when land was lets, highly valued it did good. It drew population from the towns., and settled them and their families in the country- to a moro hopeful and healthy life. It enabled improvements to bo mada increasing production. It gave dwellings to working men at liveable rentals. But now the high valuers aro merely making slaifes to money-lender's, and I am convinced eventual loss to the lenders themselves. ■ ■ ' Tho landowner now no longer talus a pride in the home "that ho has inado after many years of hard work' and deprivation. How can he. when. lie can ge-t .£2O to .£'lo an aero lor laud that ho knows is not worth the half. The desire to establish a home' is (lead before the spirits of greed and gamble. " Tho landowner has come to look, upon his fellows as fair game to get as much as tho other is willing to pay or lie'chooses to ask. Quite a fictitious state of values exist at the present tim®. In fact, it requires a cool head- besides great"■skitlto say what land is worth, ami the Government millions frcsly doled out have done much to bring this about.

Uy what right have you to" say Diy land is not worth .£lO ' an acre, even although you know that I bought it ten years ago for i!2O, says a dairy farmer, and why do yon refusa to lend to nvs on that value? Look at my books after allowing for interest,.labour, and depreciation, I can show 3*ou that I liavo left JOs. an aero for rout, and that capitalised is snr?ly JC-10. Well, my friend, 1 will not disputo your books. It is true you liavo dono that, and can do it. You uro a good farmer of long experience, but you will not livo for over. You have a herd of dairy cows that has cost you in culling many years- of labour and loss. You show mo you aro grossing .£l2 a year per cow. But. what about- your succcssor if lie gave you £40 an acre. He lias not

perhaps your oxporienc?, and he has to bsgin building up his herd and lucky if ho can make more than «.£8 a head for some years—with that he could not pay interest on t CiO aud live. Eventually he sells at UM3 uu acre. This is not fictitious transaction, but one that is- raking place every day. Ho sells on ca*y terms ; on a small deposit, and takes a mortgage for the. balance. Tho poor wretch, ; the buyer, gees on gaining experience and building up his herd, working tho very life out of himself and that of Ins family trying to pay the interest, which ho cannot do, and eventually sells out to a bigger t'col than himself at «£SO, which is declared to bo the value of the property, and forms tho basis of value for all that surrounds. The man who can mako no more than .£8 from his cows should commit himself to pay at tho very outside more than c£2o an acre, and yet ho gives <£50. Liven from the figure that tho original owner was ablo to show from his books tho outsido value should not bo more than «£3O. , So that noithcr tho selling value nor always what tho land is producing is the truo value—what is it is the problem? t , . The valuer must determine, ana it is a serious matter for him to decide. The Government place in his hands hundreds of thousands of pouiids, and say whatever you Tecommend we shall lend. Arc they careful enough in tho selection or the men in whom thoy placo such trust. Are they carcfnl enough to secure capable sound men? The safety of the nations borrowed capital is in their hands, they have tho crcdit nf the Dominion to maintain on tho leasable valuo of tho land. Their responsibility is greater than nine out of ten bankers; are tliey paid' accordingly? Mot© anon—l am, < tC " : ROBT. GARDNER. i Palmerston North, January i, I9ii-