8.—20 a

1892. NEW ZEALAND.

LAND- AND INCOME-TAX DEPARTMENT. (FURTHER REPORT BY THE COMMISSIONER.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Commissioner of Taxes to the Hon. the Colonial Tbeasueer. g IEj Land- and Income-tax Department, Wellington, 16th September, 1892. I have the honour to submit further statistics of land assessed under "The Land and Income Assessment Act, 1891," classified according to area and value. The improved and unimproved values are stated, the latter being the actual value, less the present value of the improvements on the property. Improvements are defined by the Act to include houses and buildings, fencing, planting, draining of land, clearing from timber, scrub, or fern, laying down in grass or pasture, and any other improvements whatsoever the benefit of which is unexhausted at the time of valuation. The most important table is that of freeholders of land outside boroughs and town districts, classified by area, showing total value of each class. From this table are excluded lands of those owners who have less than five acres, and there are included all lands outside boroughs or town districts, excepting some township sections under five acres; that is to say, all lands are included tint can be considered to be productive. In another table the results of this assessment are, as regards improved values, compared with those of the assessments of 1882, 1885, and 1888. A comparison of this assessment with previous valuations is rendered less easy in consequence of the creation of boroughs from time to time. Those constituted since October, 1888, are Onslow, Karori, and Eichmond (Waimea). The number of owners shown in Table No. 3—38,935 —is 1,503 more than in 1888, and the total value, £59,289,375, is an increase of £6,714,172. It appears that 19,369, or very nearly half the owners, possess less than 100 acres of land. There are 17,538 owners of from 100 to"l,000 acres, value £20,533,069; 1,766 owners'of from 1,000 to 10,000 acres, value £14,949,253; 232 owners of from 10,000 to 50,000-acres, value £11,744,683 ; and 30 owners of 50,000 acres and over, value £5,712,915. The total owners of land in the colony number 91,501, and the value of their holdings amounts to £92,371,166 for improved land, and £54,427,175 represents the unimproved value. There are included a considerable number of properties which were assessed to " owner," the names of the persons to whom they belonged not being ascertainable or ascertained by the Assessors ; and there are also included properties of societies and associations not being liable to taxation. The going make up a total of 1,845; and, in comparing the figures now given with those of the 1888 assessment, allowance should be made for the fact that they were omitted in the 1888 statistics. Properties assessed to "' owner " may, as a rule, be taken to be under £100 in value. About half the landowners —namely, 45,192 have land of an unimproved value of less than £100, and 23,709, or about a fourth of the total, have land of a less improved value than £100. The table of ownership classified by value, when summarised, gives the following results :—

I—B. 20a.

Class. Number of Owners. Improved Value. Number of Owners. Unimproved Value. Jnder£500 1500 and under £1,000 11,000 and under .£10,000 110,000 and over 63,841 12,901 13,569 1,190 £ 10,825,213 8,888,580 33,938,211 38,719,162 76,399 6,922 7,496 684 £ 8,621,360 4,794,530 19,208,387 21,802,898 Totals 91,501 92,371,166 91,501 54,427,175