F. W. FLANAGAN.]

111

8.—17b.

working of the Valuation of Land Act or of the Court would come to the conclusion that the Assessment Courts were a species of Star Chamber at which it was quite useless for any objector to values to appear with a prospect of either having his grievance listened to or of getting justice done. During my experience as Valuer-General, which extends from 1910, I must say that up to about eighteen months ago there were no objections received by the Department either to the proceedings of the Assessment Courts or to their constitution. About eighteen months ago a suggestion was made from a local body in the Auckland District to the effect, that the constitution of the Assessment Court was unsatisfactory in that it did not allow of direct representation of objectors. A resolution on the subject was passed by that local body and communicated to other local bodies until eventually it came to be regarded as a semi-political question. It was about that stage that representations were made to the Government to alter the constitution of the Court. The recommendation was that each objector should be allowed a special representative who would take his seat on the Bench as soon as his (the objector's) case came on. Of course, the thing was impracticable. Some months elapsed, and nothing more was heard on the subject until the Assessment Court sat in Wellington lately, when it was raised again, and in a more serious way than hitherto, because the increased values in the lands of the Dominion brought into the category of land-tax payers a number of owners who had hitherto escaped paying land-tax. In making a change in the constitution of the Assessment Court one has to consider more than the complaints of a few objectors. One would g-ain the idea from what has been written in the Press and from the evidence before the Commission that Assessment Courts have not been appealed to very largely in the past in regard to valuations. I have had the following return prepared showing the number of Courts held during the last three years, and number of objections heard : —

Return showing the Number of Local Districts revised during the Period 1911 to 19 14 (inclusive), the Number of Separate Properties valued, the Number of Objections lodged, the Number of Objections referred to the Court, and the Percentage of Valuations reduced by the Court, &c.

Year. r 3 a 3 o B _J I [Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, j Westland. o b o J Otago. I 3 O 02 Total. r Number of districts revised <j I Number of districts where Assess-! ment Courts were held I Number of districts where it was [ found unnecessary to set up As-<J sessment Courts 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 | 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 : 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 1913 1914 1911 1912 ! 1913 j 1914 16 18 19 19 5 8 10 16 11 10 9 3 18,759 24,573 27,212 21,081 "1,085 1,344 1,252 818 839 795 136 267 505 457 0-8 1-1 1-8 2-1 46 33 81 29 0-2 0-1 0-3 0-1 I 16 30 24 33 6 3 10 20 10 27 14 13 22,944 21,554 29,896 48,676 344 2,046 3,686 302 1,309 1,731 366 42 737 1,955 . 1-6 0.2 2-5 4 41 3 78 164 0-2 0-01 0-3 0-3 6 7 7 12 2 1 2 8 4 6 5 4 5,996 4,344 7,828 24,958 6 4 4 5 3 3 2 3 4 1 3 5,100 2,904 4,481 3,387 5 5 3 4: 4 4 1 3 1 1 2 1 8,428 3,220 5,922 5,108 49 64 57 73 20 16 26 49 29 48 31 24 61,227 56.595 75,339 103,210 Number of separate properties re-J valued j I r Number of objections lodged -i 124 307 1,239 69 178 158 71 308 139 1,693 4,183 6,474 I Number of objections settled by j valuers i 108 252 849 48 16 55 390 0-8 0.4 0-7 1-6 34 69 140 72 21 32 186 58 23 39 122 81 0-3 1.2 2-1 1-5 8 5 30 18 0-1 0-1 0-5 0-3 1,329 2,726 3,505 594 364 1,457 2,969 0.9 0.6 1-9 2-9 136 41 208 302 0-2 0-08 0-3 0-3 I Number of objections referred to J Assessment Courts L Percentage of valuations referred to J Assessment Courts 1 I Number of valuations reduced by! Assessment Courts ) I r 38 86 0.4 0-9 2-6 7 9 83 0-6 10 8 0-1 Percentage of valuations reduced by J Assessment Courts I 0-1 0-3 0-2 0-2