PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 453 



unimproved value to be 50 per cent, of the total value, 10,000 persons own about 

 254,000,000?. worth of landed interests in the Commonwealth, or one four-hundred- 

 and-fiftieth of the population own three-eighths of all the landed interest of 

 Australia. 



Elsewhere in the same speech last year it was stated that ' in seven years 

 the number of the estates in New South Wales which exceed 5,000 acres has 

 increased from 1,282 to 1,366, the number of those which exceed 10,000 acres from 

 703 to 728, and the number of those which exceed 20,000 acres from 351 to 360. 

 In Western Australia the number of estates exceeding 5,000 acres was 147 in 1901, 

 and 242 in 1909 ; while of those exceeding 10,000 acres the increase was from 74 

 to 102, and of those exceeding 50,000 acres from four to six. The Victorian 

 " Land Tax Register " of August 2, 1910, stated that there were 2,000,000 acres in 

 the Western district held by 187 persons, and that there are four estates exceeding 

 50,000 acres each, 14 exceeding 30,000 acres each, and 77 exoeedingt 5,000. In 

 New South Wales there are 104 estates exceeding 50,000 acres each.' Again, Mr. 

 T. A. Coghlan, writing of the land tax in N ew South Wales, says : ' When 

 the Act was imposed in 1895 there were 4,448 estates ranging in size from 1,000 

 to 10,000 acres, and comprising an area of 11,800,000 acres. In 1907 the number 

 of such estates had increased to 6,000, with an area of 15,000,000 acres. Of hold- 

 ings of 10,000 acres and upwards there were 656 in 1895, embracing an area of 

 20,600,000 acres ; whereas in 1907 the number had grown to 729, with an area of 

 23,000,000 acres.' 



The tax on the unimproved value of land in New Zealand dates from 1891, 

 when it was imposed after a sharp parliamentary struggle. As already men- 

 tioned, latifundia then existed there on a grand scale. Not half the country was 

 occupied even loosely. Yet 585 corporations or individuals owned between ten 

 and eleven million acres — that is to say, fully one-third of the occupied territory. 

 Two-thirds of one per cent, of the landowners held 40 per cent, of the land. One- 

 eightieth of the country landowners held two-fifths in value of the rural land. 

 As late as 1891 large landowners were buying still more land. The Colony was 

 depressed ; population was leaving the islands ; efficient settlers complained that 

 land was not to be got. A uniform property tax of Id. in the pound on all 

 real and personal estate over 500?. in value was extremely unpopular. For this 

 a land tax of Id. on unimproved values was gradually substituted by laws passed 

 in 1891 and 1893. In practice this meant that Id. in the pound which the 

 property tax had levied on the improvements and live-stock of farmers was no 

 longer exacted — a great relief to the smaller working settlers. An income tax 

 took the place of the property tax on personalty, but was not, and is not, levied 

 on incomes derived from land, a distinction to be noted by English students. 



The flat land tax of Id. in the pound would not by itself have disturbed the 

 larger New Zealand holders. But specially aimed at them was a graduated tax 

 on all values over 5,000?. This, beginning at -gd., rose by eighths till on un- 

 improved values of 210,000?. and upwards it reached 2d. in the pound of capital 

 value, with an extra percentage for absentees. This, added to the flat land-tax, 

 appeared severe. Moreover, the payers of the graduated tax were not allowed 

 exemption to the extent of their mortgages, a privilege accorded to payers of 

 ordinary land-tax. The tax was spoken of as confiscatory. Yet during the ten 

 years in which the graduated scale of 1893 remained in force it did extremely 

 little to break up the great estates, and the revenue it yielded only increased from 

 71,000?. in 1893 to 79,000?. in 1903, though the price of land had risen sharply, and 

 prosperity had returned as early as 1896. Parliament, therefore, revised the 

 scale of graduation on all land values of 7,000?. and upwards. The steps were 

 thenceforth of -fed. instead of ^d., and rose to a maximum of 3d. instead of 2d. 

 A central and efficient department of land valuing was set up. Assessment on 

 uniform principles was made reasonably accurate, while at the same time there 

 was not undue harshness. These changes, combined with the continued rise in 

 the selling value of real estate, had their result. In six years the combined yield 

 from the flat tax and the graduated tax slightly more than doubled. It rose from 

 296,000?. in 1903 to 605,000?. in 1909. The yield of the graduated division 

 increased from about 79,000?. to 215,000?. 



This, from the point of view of the Exchequer, was satisfactory enough. The 

 middling landowners were paying substantially ; the great ones were paying 

 heavily. But the failure to burst up the large properties into small farms 



