115

8.—17b

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX I.

Letter tfftOM E. J. Butterworth, ManußeWA. Chairman, Valuation of Land Commission. I have never received any notice that the unimproved value on my 120 acres, part of Clendon's grant, Papapakura Road District, had been raised from £6 per acre to £15 till I received tax-account for £3 lis. lid. I am quite willing to let the Government have it at that value, with £850 for improvements. ' This is the value fixed by Mr. Morgan, their own valuator. I have been to the Land Office in Auckland, and cannot get any satisfaction, and have written to Wellington with the same result. Manurewa, 3rd December, 1914. E. J. Butterworth.

Report on above by Valuer* General. The Chairman, Valuation of Land Commission, Wellington. I enclose herewith, for the information of the Valuation of Land Commission, a memorandum I have received from the officer in charge of this Department at Auckland, in which he replies to statements made by E. J. Butterworth, of Manurewa, in a letter addressed to Mr. Rutherford, a member of the Valuation of Land Commission. I may state that before the new values were adopted in Manurewa Road District due notice of the proposed new values was forwarded to every owner and occupier whose name was recorded on the district valuation roll. One of the statutory requirements in connection with revaluations of districts is the publication of the date and place where the new valuation roll is placed for public inspection in a newspaper circulating in the district. Wellington, 9th January, 1915. P. W. Flanagan, Valuer-General.

Report prom Officer in Charge, Auckland. The Valuer-General, Wellington. I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 16th instant in this matter, and, in reply, have to advise you as under :*— Mr. Butterworth had let his land with a purchasing clause at £16 per acre. This lease was not registered, so that we had no information about it till he told us of it. The lessees interest has now been computed, and his land-tax account readjusted. When he had his loan from the Advances to Settlers' Office readjusted in 1911, and part, of the security released, he stated to the valuer that the residue'— i.e., the 120 acres-—was worth at least £20 per acre. Auckland, 18th December, 1914. A. J. McGowan, Officer in Charge. Decision of Commission. No action to be taken. 21/1/15. '

Decision of Commission; No action to be taken. 21/1/15. • __ APPENDIX 11. Letter from G, H. Elliott, Palmerston North, Sir,— Park Road, Palmerston North, 4th December, 1914. I wish to bring before you, for inquiry, the valuation of my property at Spreydon, Christchurch, which seems to present strange anomalies. No. I. Valuation No. 4/48/576.- —The enclosed slip No. I gives—(l) The original value fixed by the Department; (2) my own valuation ; (3) the revised valuation of the Department as an answer to my objection ; (4) the valuation finally made either by the Department or Assessment Court for local rates ; and (5) the Department's valuation for land-tax. Attached to this slip No. I is a copy of the objection I made ; the revised valuation offered me in answer to this ; the Road Board rate notice based on £325 capital value and £160 unimproved value, and also the notice from the Land Tax Department based on unimproved value £120. These variations present an anomaly unintelligible and absurd. It will be noted the Department put the capital value at £325, and I am prepared to take £160 any day for this property.