I.—sa.
16
[c. morgan.
71. Further away from the station? —The furthest away from the station. Some of them overlook the Manukau, and also look round towards Auckland as well. But from the other parts of Hetana there is not very much outlook. It is rolling land. Certain sections have a good outlook and others have none at all. 72. Is it under scrub? —It has originally been tea-tree scrub. It was a farm that was originally improved. I believe that at the time the Crown got it the improvements had mostly gone back. 73. Who laid the block out —the Lands Department?—l think so. 74. Is it well laid out?—l think so. I do not think you can complain about it as far as laying-out is concerned. 75. Mr. Statham.] You say that in making your valuation you first of all made inquiries as to the prices being paid for land in the district? —Yes. We have records of sales. The Deeds Department send us records. 76. Mr. Buddo raised the question of prospective value. Would not the prospective value of the land have some influence upon the prices that are being paid at the present time?—Of course, the term " prospective value " is somewhat misunderstood. Some people regard as the prospective value what that land is going to bring by and by when it is cut up. A value of that sort I would not take into consideration, excepting that where there is no possibility of a rise in the district one would not value so highly as where there was a possibility of a rise. The present value of a piece of land is often based on what is capable of being made off of it, when it has a prospective value. 77. If there is a prospect that the land in the district will rise—if that is the general feeling, the prospective value is making itself felt at once. That is the point. As soon as that feeling obtains in the community, then does a demand for land set in? —That is so. 78. If you took into consideration the prices that were being paid, of which you have records, you must have taken into consideration the prospective value: is that not so? —We can assume that the people who bought this land bought it because land is becoming more valuable. But you must remember that in fixing a Government valuation we must have some basis to go upon. Supposing the valuation is contested : we must have some data to go upon, something to refer to, as a reason for putting certain values on. And one very substantial reason is this fact : there is only one value for land —that is to say, we cannot have one value for lending and another for taxing and another for selling, and so on. We must have one fair and equitable valuation which is sufficiently near to answer all purposes. Any valuations I have made in this case I should have made on the same basis supposing I had been making them for lending purposes. These values that I put on Hetana would be the values that I would be prepared to recommend as the values the lessees should be lent money on. 79. If there has been a tendency for the land-values to rise in this district on account of the feeling that the district is going to be a good one, and you took into consideration the prices that were being given for land at the time you made the valuation of this particular piece, you must have been taking into consideration the prospective value. If there had been a feeling that people had no faith in the district, there would have been no prospective value at all? —Quite so. If there are no buyers the land has no selling-value. Buyers come along because of possibilities. But it is one thing taking notice of sales of that kind and another thing in being led away by the wild prices that are given by particular individuals. Auckland is progressing, and progressing well, but, as with every place that is progressing, speculators come in and cut up land for sale. Those of you who have been to Auckland may know that Auckland can expand in each direction, consequently there is not the same room for very high prices as where the area is limited. Let me enumerate two places which are suburbs of Auckland at the present time. One is Takapuna and the other is Manurewa. Manurewa is further away than Takapuna, but both of these places have come into prominence fairly recently, and people have bought and cut up land, and in many cases it has been sold. But what is done with these sections ? They are simply lying unimproved. When we come to revise the values for the district would it be a safe thing to estimate that because these have brought certain prices we should fix those prices as the basis of valuation all over the district? If we did that and recommended advances on that basis, the country would soon be" landed in loss. We must exercise a great deal of caution, and watch very closely to see what has occurred in other places, and form an opinion as to whether all these sections are likely to be required. I have always considered that in any place where values have gone ahead quickly it is better to pause awhile to be sure they are permanent before using them as a basis to go upon. 80. You cannot say with any degree of certainty that Auckland will extend to the New Lynn district? —No. 81. Can you say with any certainty whether the land there will increase in value or decrease in value? —I could not say. 82. So that is purely speculative?—My own impression is that there will be a gradual increase, but Ido not think New Lynn will become a popular suburb. A certain number live there because certain work is going on there. They have created a certain demand, and others by getting land a little cheaper there have gone there. But it is very difficult to say whether it will become a very popular suburb. lam not inclined to think it will; but that is only an opinion. We must base our estimates on present-day facts, rather than on what may happen in the future. 83. Do you think, then, that New Lynn may develop into a working-man's suburb?— Yes, more so than any other. 84. Does a working-man's suburb, in your opinion, increase in value with the same rapidity as a better-class suburb does?—l do not think the very high prices obtain in a working-man's suburb that might obtain if there were a better class of house built. 85. In your opinion have the interests of the State been absolutely protected?— Yes.
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