A MISNOMER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 49, 21 November 1917, Page 6

A MISNOMER

EATING ON THT! "TTNIMPKOVED VALUE." "There is really no such thing , as rating on hhe unimproved valne," said the City Valuer (Mr. James Ames) in the course of a conversation upon the various systems of rating which have been prac. tlsed in Wellington during his term of nffice. Fe explained that a block of land nnroaded Mid without any improve, ments could not remain of' the same value when it was well roaded and had all the improvements thnt followed in the train of settlement. Therefore the word "unimproved" ns the designation of a system of rating was a misnomer. Tlio system now in use was the presentday value of tho lnnd nnd buildings thereon calculated on what would be a fair market value of such property. One thing, Mr. Ames snid. which wna a tribute to the solidity of Wellington's steady proc-reps was that never dnriiiß the last fifty years had the vnlue of nraporty in Wellington city receded. There had been periods when the viiluea had not advanced materially, end there lind b?on times when boom prices had iiroviuled in aorno of thn suburbs, but Hie olßoial values had never actually gnne bade during the last half-century.