ASSESSMENT COURT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2848, 12 August 1916, Page 3

ASSESSMENT COURT

MIRAMAR LAND ,/ OPINIONS AS TO ITS VALUE GOLF &JiUB GRANTED A REDUCTION. A sitting of the Assessment Court was held yesterday. Mr. W. G. ltiddell, S.M., who presided, had associated with him on tho Bench as assessors Mr. H. E. Leightbn, representing the Government, and Mr. F. Holdsworth, valuer of the Miramar district. The case heard was an objection by tlie Miramar Golf Club to the unimproved valuation placcd upbn their property at Miramar by the Government Valuation Department. Mr. T. Young appeared on behalf of tho club, and Mr. F. Martin, a member of tho Valuation Department, represented the Government.

Mr. Young, in his opening address, said that in 1914 the Miramar Golf Club purchased 103 acres 3 roods 13 perches of land from tho Crawford Esta'te for tlie purposes of a golf links ; When the sain took place .all.the fronts ages to the property were cut off, with the exception of a roadway giving access to the golf house. The land was originally a sandy desert, and it was no good cutting it up, becauso there was no frontage to that part of the eetate. Sinco that time, however, the chib had mado some valuable improvements on certain parts of the property tor recreation purposes onlr. Tho price asked for the property waif £12,346 less £405, an amount which had been taken off for certain improvements made. This made the actual price asked £11,941. The club was unwilling to pay that amount, therefore, in' order to effect a sale, tha_vendors allowed tie amount to remain at Interest at the rate of 4 per cent. 1 lor fifteen years. In 1926 tho wholo ol' tho amount will he due, and according to the figures givon the price of tho. land worTted out at about £95 per aero. Counsel contended that the only evidence of the market value of the land was the price which tho sellers had agreed to accept. It was also contended that there had bech very little sale in suburban lands since the war started. It was pointed out that tliis particular sale . had taken place three months after the outbreak of hostilities. Continuing, Mr. Young said that the club should be encouraged,■ instead of being so heavily taxcd ; for having made the property. If it was cut up there would, ho said, be no Bale. The club did not want to sell, however. They only wanted the value of their property assessed at betweeA £95 and £96 per acre. , Therefore an objection was raised - to' the sum of £13,230 being placod as the unimproved value of tho property. /

G. Frost, land valuer, called as a witness on behalf of the objectors, said that land at Miramar ; was practically' unsaleablo at the present time. According to "witness, there are hundreds of sections in that district with frontages which could not be sold, and the club's property would be ■unmarketable. Just now, as a speculative value, he thought that a- good price for the land would be about £100 per aero. J. G. Holdsworth, a land valuer, in giving evidence on behalf of the club, said that lie considered that the highest price tho land would fetch was £100 per acre. Ho was of the opinion that persons who went looking for land at Miramar went looking for trouble. In. answer to a question, by Mr. Young, he said that lie thought that-in about twenty-five years' time the land would bring about £100 per acre. 11l his opinion the land in question was not fit for residential areas.

G. A. Sutton; public accountant, and secretary of the Miramax. Golf Club, said that tlie club would not have given tho price asked for had the interest not, been so low. It was on account of these terms that after a considerable amount of deliberation the deal was made. He did not think the club could have got the property at the time of purchase for a less sum than they had given for ifc. : Tho original price asked was £13,Q00, with certain restrictions. Had those restrictions been removed a higher price would have undoubtedly been asked for the property. At the time negotiations were on with the Crawford Estate : the club had been offered another property of about*lso acres in Miramar North at £100 per acre, and that land had frontages to streets. F. Martin, giving evidence for the Valuation Department, said that the Miramar Golf Club's property was cod )and, hilly, and with an extensive sea view. Ho maintained that thero was a demand for land in the district, and that the Golf Club's property was worth more than £100. Ho gave instances of people who were willing to purchase land on the adjoining property. In fact, people wanting to get land and reside upon it, had even gone and paid the fishermen living near the property the value of their huts for week-end residences without any security of tenure at all. ;The present valuation of the Golf Club's property was £13,230, and the price paid for it was £12,346. He held that the property had frontages. One was a triangular piece of land fronting a road, and it measured 365 links. There was another frontage of 100 links to Norman Koad, which had yet to be formed. In addition' to this there was a possibility of a road being formed at the\back of the property. Mr. Martin went' on to give instances of sales of land which had taken place recently in the vicinity of the Golf Club's property. Ten acres had been sold, on the city side of the property, at £160 per acre: Between February 24 and .Tune 19 four and a acres Tiacf been, sold for £3595,. or at tlie rate of £916 per acre, and there were not any buildings on that property at all. Ho. also gave other instances of the high valuations of land in the vicinity of ;tho property. He contended that in regard to this particular action the sale price could not be taken into consideration because it was not a salo under reasonable conditions. The price paid by the club could not bo taken as any indication of the actual value of the land. • In giving the board's decision, Mr. Riddell. chairman, said that in considering the objection, and after hearing the. ev*uonce, tho board proposed to make a reduction in tho unimproved value from £13,23(1 to £12,000. The 'improvements to the property were assessed at £3584, making the capital value £1-3,584, instead of £16,814, the amount of the original assessment. .