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give it, but refer me to the Valuation Department, and to get it I have to pay another fee. I claim that a man is entitled to know what a valuation is when he has paid for same, without having to pay another fee, but that is what I had to do. At latter end of 19.11 District Valuer Morgan valued my property for rating purposes at £430, being 139, 139 a, and 209, Parish of Taulioa, Rodney County; 255 acres 1 rood 38 perches. Since 1911 I have, effected over £200 worth of improvements. Grass in place of tea-tree and scrub, &c, and, I then applied for a loan from the Advances to Settlers Department. District Valuer Morgan came on 20th June, 1914, and valued the property at £450, being an increase of £10 unimproved value and £10 for the (£200) additional improvements. Of course, the Advances Department refused to grant a loan, but that was no reason why they should have put me to further expense and trouble to get to know what the valuation was. Simply red-tape, that is all. I reported Mr. Morgan to the Valuer-General, and asked for an investigation. He (the Valuer-General) got a report from Morgan, who told him (the Valuer-General) that the work I had done was wasted labour and expense, which I most emphatically deny. He reported that he made a careful inspection, which was false. I saw him on a ridge, being at work at the time he came, and it was very little indeed that he inspected after that; but his demeanour and the remarks he made convinced me that he was no good to me. It is not that T did not get an advance that I care about, but the fact that a Government official has ruthlessly condemned my property. I have had practical farmers over the place, and they say that he (Morgan) knows nothing about valuing a farm, and they put it, at a low estimate, £200 above Morgan's valuation—viz., £650 at least. I am informed on good.authority that Morgan was at one time a photo-canvasser, afterwards an unsuccessful farmer." Please report. W. F. M. Prime, Minister's Office, Wellington, 16th November, 1914. Refkrred to the. Valuation Commission by direction of the Right Hon. the Prime Minister. F. W. Flanagan, Valuer General, 27/11/1914. Letter from E. A. Ktng, Wellsford. Dear Sir,— Rural Mail Route, Wellsford, Auckland, 13/1/15. T would like to know if your Commission are moving in the matter of District Valuer Morgan's unjust valuation of my property (139, 139 a, and 209, 355 acres 1 rood 38 perches, Parish of Tauhoa, Rodney County) on the 20th June, 1914, for purpose of Advances to Settlers Department, not that, I mind so much about an advance from the Government (except that I have just as much right to any Government provision as any one else in the Dominion), but this is the point: I went to Manager of the Bank of New Zealand, and I showed him the valuation certificate of general valuation, 1911. He figured it out, but could not advance on it. I then showed him certificate of Mr. Morgan's valuation (£lO unimproved value and £10 improvement—£2o). He figured it out again, but could not do it. Had Mr. Morgan done me justice, and given me credit for £200 improvements instead of £10 improvements, he (the Manager) would have advanced me the amount required. I have improved the property, but, no matter, I am branded with a Government valuation which is unjust; and people who have money to lend do not question the Government valuation, notwithstanding that every one else who has seen the property says that Mr. Morgan's valuation is ridiculous. Mr. Morgan, in his report to the Valuer-General, has quite misrepresented the property. Land of the same class a little more than a mile from here, before we get to main road, recently sold for £9 per acre, and the purchaser could have had £100 on his bargain of 80 acres. My land is as good as that,; at least, the greater portion of it. If I am required to meet the Commission and Mr. Morgan in Auckland I can do so, but I cannot come to Wellington ; I cannot afford it. The most satisfactory way is for the Commission to come and see the land, themselves, and if I am in the wrong I will pay their expenses ; but I shall never, never, never let this matter rest until I have received justice. I have, &c, The Chairman, Valuation of Land Commission, Wellington. E. A. King. Valuer-General's Report on above. Re E. A. King, Wellsford, Auckland. The Secretary, Valuation of Land Commission, Wellington. Referring to your memorandum of the 18th instant, I forward herewith, for the information of the Valuation of Land. Commission, copy of a letter I forwarded to Mr. King on the Ist, October, 1914, from which can be gleaned the precise nature of the matter in dispute, between Mr. King and the Department. I may state that Mr. King applied for a loan from the State Advances Department, and the District Valuer's estimate of the total value of the property was considered insufficient as security for the loan. Mr. King alleges that both the value of his land and the value, of improvements are undervalued. P. W. Flanagan, Valuer-General. Valuation Department, Wellington, 25th January, 1915. Copy of Letter sent to E. A. King by Valuer-General. Dbar Str,- — Valuation Department, Wellington, Ist October, 1911. Reff.rring to your letter of the 26th August last, complaining that, your freehold land situated in the Parish of Taulioa, Rodney County, containing 355 acres 1 rood 38 perches, and the