THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1912. UNEARNED INCREMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10670, 17 July 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1912. UNEARNED INCREMENT.

A great deal ih'as ibeen said and written in New Zealand of late about that uncertain quantity that Socialists and dreamers describe as the unearned increment in land. It is Maintained by eome that everything that is not produced* by file efforts of the individual should .belong to the State, especially in regard to land. These who argue thusly do not venture the suggestion that the value in mining or other shares which is not earned by the individual 'should belong to the community. Their efForts are directed wholly and solely against the occupier of the land. We observe that Mv David Jones, a well-known Canterbury farmer, has been writing on t;ii,s snilbject in a contemporary, and his remarks are commended to t'he notice of those .who talk/of "unearned incvv mont." He says: "We hear to-dav evei'y hand that the unimproved of land has increased enormously. 'J be men who are preaching these tilings from the public .platform, and through tlhe press, aire to a great extent ig- | uorarit lof the way the unimproved j value its arrived at, or, what we do not care to suggest, are stating whatthey know to be untrue. • I will gwe here an illustration of the value of a •fawn of about 2500 acres, that was ipurehaised less than 12 years ago, -within .seven miles of a railway; no public money has been spent to add value to it. An instance of the individual energy and ability of one fnra.cr in ooiiiipa.m»»n with the previous owner; same land, but different men in occupation. Wihcn purchased, 'heproperty was-carrying 1700 sheep, and 9200 pounds of wool was shorn—less than 5-} -pounds per sheep. The lam 1 - ing was 80 per cent., and all Jambs were rold as stoics. The uiMnprovnl value of the place was £4 per a r .:o. It employed' one man and one bny. The new owner, by skilful cultivation, strenuous toil, and heavy outlay has made it a fine agricultural and grazing property, .carrying now 'IOOO ■instead of 1700, clipping eight pou v\:

instead of loss than five and a half | pounds of wool. Well over 3000 of these «jheep are ewes', and the average percentage of lambs is 100. Ihe nun:;"ber fattenea' and .shipped is 97 per cent. In addition to this, an .avcru&v of over 10,000 bitihcfls of wheat sue grown, the sheep and wheat and oth-»r ! goods materially assisting the raii'.va;. revenue. Tho wages paid to-day an. I six times -as great as previously, besides the large amount of labour expanded in buildings, implements, :i ach.iiK>ry, etc., £6OOO had been spent in permanent improvements on the property previously, which brought the improvomenty to over C9OCO, a-lld tho Government valuation for improvements fbS a little mere than onethird of tho total cost. The State 'thus robs the farmer of over £SOOO, and it goes to swell the unimproved value. Tho capital value of tho farm has rapidly increased, and to-day the taxation is very heavy, the difference between the unimproved value to-day and twelve years ago is enormous, but who created it? The State hay given no more facilities, has not spent any public money to benefit it, the people who maintain our market arc overseas. The State has in fact materially .benefited through the increased production, and now while professing to tax on the unimproved value, in this ■instance confiscates for taxation purposes over £SOOO of permanent improvements as well as the whole of the (improved quality of the stock and the increased yield of wool and mutton, confiscates, the .whole- of the unexhausted artificial'.manures in the. soil; confiscates the result of the brain and energy of the .farmer in bringing a 'tuasock' (farm to a highly improved agricultural .farm, and calls the difference between thq capita l ! value and the few 'bob' they for improvemerife the unimproved value, and irresponsible, ignorant people add up the total, and say the community have made .the difference—its unearned increment."