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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 285, 6 December 1904, Page 2

LAND VALUATION. The circular letter received by the Taranaki County Council from the Vnluer-Gentiral, asking for an expression of opinion on the proposal to allow local authorities to nominate one member of the Assessment Court, is evidence of the fact that> officialdom is waking up to a senso of the dissatisfaction which exists in many quarters on the subject of land valuation. The letteß referred to stated that no serious complaint had come 'before the department from the persons immediately affected by the present system, but this is by Bo means proof that many anomalies do not exist. The gentlemen selected as valuers, though actuated by the best intentions, do not always possess that thorough local knowledge requisite for the successful carrying out of their duties—-ad-mittedly onerous—and the assistance of an assessor with this qualification must necessarily ensure better results. But perhaps one of the chief causes of discontent may be laid at the door of the system, as one instance will show, in which individual opinion is often the sole guidance of the official, with the | consequence that no uniformity exists. Time after time have we heard Government valuers enter in--11) arguments with land owners on the question of improvements, as, for instance, whether stumping should he allowed for as an improvement or whether the fact that tho land was cleared should not enhance its rateable value. 'And we must say that often the professional suffered defeat at the hands of his antagonist. The issue .is not confined merely to local rates, but affects transactions under loans to settlers, mortgages, death duties, and public trust administration, so that an excessive or faulty valuation may have far-reaching consequences. We feel sure that the farmers especially will hail with satisfaction the prospect of the introduction of a system more in keeping ■with the best ideals of modern government, and it therefore behoves all local bodies approached on the ■subject to give expression to their opinion in no uncertain maimer. The proposal, we understand, emanated from the Farmers' Union, and in consequence bears tho hall-mark of authenticity, which will more than justify the Government in making the change.

NOTE AND COMMENT

Mr Etigcn Sandow has just brought

out a now hook on SANDOW ON physical training. NEW ZEALAND He calls it "Hoilybuilding ; or Man in thu Making." In the book Air Suikluw gives some notes concerning his New Zealand tour. With regardto his visit to Auckland, lie says : •'Auckland is a line nourishing lonn of some 60,000 inhabitants. I'rom a business paint of view our first appearance in Now Zealand was not very successful. This was accounted for in many wayß, First the surviv-

ors of the terrible E-lingamilo disaster were Lining landed the very day we arrived ; then the general election was about to take place ; and last, but not least, was the fact that Mr Rickards had to tall baok on a very indifferent theatre for my appearance. After leaving Auckland, however, it is pleasing to relate that my tour proved enormously successful in every respect." Wellington and Dunedin do not come in for any desci-iption at all, nor does Christchurch. Of bin New Zealesd visit generally, Mr 'Sandow says :—"A general impression prevailed everywhere that I was possessed of enormous talk, and when I arrived at fresh cities, and people saw a man of ordinary stature, with nothing of the 'strong man' appearance, their remarks were often extremely funny. At the Wellington railway station, New Zculniid, a young lady who had evidently, come to the station out of curiosity to see lue arrive, remarked to her companion : 'Why, he's just a, man !' One

of the waiters at a New Zealand hotel gave a good description of me. After seeing me at the theatre he remarked to a friend of his : '1 just said to the "boots," if he said to me the meat was tough, I wouldn't contradict him !' In another New Zealand hotel at which we stayed we were informed by a notice on the wall that a lire escape was at the end of a passage on the left; that there was also another one in bedroom No'. 18, which led on to the stable wall (!) ; a third one in room :•), which led down a water shoot (!) and a fourth off the bnthroom, which had a drop of 20ft (!). One could not help wondering whether, in the event of a lire, the time spent in reading these directions and looking for the different escapes would not be sufficiently long in which to be burnt to death-. Perhaps the idea was that as long as one escaped half-roasted, that was all that was required—of the hotclkeepor. I was greatly impressed with the hospitality extended to me, and the friendly bonhomie accorded everywhere I went."