Assessment Court.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 136, 13 June 1904, Page 2

Assessment Court.

Tho court resumed at Opunake on Friday. The hearing of Air Middloton's objection was continued.

The valuer, Mi' Hill, gave evidence tluit his values were low. lie was satisfied that the unimproved value was on the same uniform basis as i Ih' remainder of the sections on ihe riinil.

To the objector : X was on tho farm. There was 110 one at homo when i called. I swear I called at your house, hut I was not over the holding. J increased the value of your improvements. I know what your insurances are.

Mr Hutchison: You guesHetl at his I improvements ? Mr iiill ; No ; 1 assessed them. I could see most of them from tho road.

Objector : What sort of a fence have I on my frontage ? Witness : 1 can't remember. Objector : If .you were there you would have remembered. 1 must press for an answer.

Witness : I can't remember what your fences were like. Ordinary barbed wire fences, I think.

Objector : How do you class my farm ?

Witness : As a flrst-clnss farm. Objector : I should class it as a reclaimed forest swamp. No one else would take it up. Witness : Certainly you deserve great credit for the way in which you have stuck to such a place. Mr Campbell (assessor) : How do you arrive at the cost of fencing, 120 chains?

Witness: At last revision there were !)G drains, and 1 allowed for a certain Increase.

Objector : 1 have spent over £1!00 on ditching and hedging. My fences

are all live fences. Witness continued : I thlnl; your place in its virgin state would bring 5s an acre now, and a man could make a living out of it from tho start.

Objector : There were not two acres of open land oil it. I've i»n<iu the farm by my own labour, and that has increased the unimproved value. Witness ; You must take into consideration Iho roads, enaction of dairy factories, etc., nince you took up your bush section. To the Deputy Valuer-General : 1 ">:uw most of the place. It, Ik a gw>d farm. 1 saw most of the clearing improvements. Mr Middleton wus satisfied with the Improvements made by the previous assessor. The Court pointed out that, i;ccepting the olijector's own statement of his improvements at £1225, and deducting tills from his estimated capital value, £2500, this would give an Improved value of more than that assessed by the district valuer. Would Mr Middleton give an idea of tho value of the farm as a freehold ?

Mr Middleton could not positively say, as there were no freeholds sold in the district. But the reserve opposite him, if cut up, would not bring 3s (id an acre in its forest stato. He objected to the high 'inimproved value.

The court pointed out that taking the Improvements at the objector's own price, the valuation could not be disturbed. Valuation sustained.

W. (.'oombridge objected to the valuation of his farm, section!) 1, block 11, Opunnko, 208 acres. The assessor had given tho followug figures : Capital value, £3lO ; owner's Interest in unimproved value. £547 ; lessee's Interest, £77 ; lessee's interest in improvements, £oßti. The objector gave as his reasons : That the West Coast Settlements Reserves Act does not say there shall bo Intermediate re-valua-tions. I understand that the total value above tho original belongs to me until the expiration of the 21 years' lease, when t'ne natives' interest will be re-valued. If I wished to sell my land I should have to lose £ 1 111 of my property which I through long years of toil, hardship, and capital have created. I cannot realise that any portion of the value which I and my fellow-settlers have created by the making of roads, building of factories, creameries, etc. should be called unimproved value, when we have mortgaged our lands and spent immense amounts of money to make it, and worst of all, to be taken away from us and given to the owner and Maoris who have not spent a solitary penny to creak" It. Mr Campbell protested that this was not an objection at all, but a controversy on the terms of the Act. lie had argued this again and again, that owners were not- taking one penny of the lessees'. improvements. The lessees asked for reduction of unimproved value, and the only result, would be a lessening of the amount of land tax paid by (he unlives and lessening the amount of money to he sjient by the Public Trustee in this district.

The objector contended that Ids improvements were under-valued, and the unimproved value wasjtoo high. His imhrovements were : House, £150; sheds, £110; fencing, ;M0 chains, £l7O ; draining, £SO ; felling, £M2O ; grassing, £.IOO ; garden and well, £2O ; stumping and clearing, £l2. lie would take £(> an acre for his goodwill. It. might he worth £8 an acre as a freehold. TTndervaluing the improvements would affect him if ho wished to borrow under the Advances to Settlers Act. Mr Campbell again pointed out

that this valuation for taxation purposes had nothing to do with the Advances to Settlers Ofiice, tho Public Trustee, or any other department but the Valuation IVpnrtnient. This eotdd not be too strongly urged, llcforc lending, the Advances to Settlers ollice would have a special valuation made.

Mr Fisher showed that the natives , were not so good-for-nothing as had [ been suggested. The raising of the , unimproved values did not affect, the amount, of the lessee's rent, to the ( Duhlic. Trustee, whilst the natives had to pay increased land tax on that increased unimproved value. The objector wanted the natives' interest in the unimproved value to remain stationary, but the laws of the colony could not allow this, the court explained. Tt resolved itself into a question of the unearned increment. Valuat ion sustained, Several other cases were withdrawn or adjourned to Uahotu. OEO RIDING. Benjamin Vickery objected to the assessor's valuation of sections in the town of Opunake, on the ground that, the valuation was far above the market value, and he was prepared to sell for less. The sections were of 82 perches each, and valued at £ls each. There were nine sections, and he valued the lot at £.IOO. The valuer said he was prepaivd to meet the objector, and the valuation was reduced to £IOO. The Bench : You have got your own way this time. liichard Ching's valuation was reduced by £'lo on six acres of suburban sections. The court rose shortly beforonoon.