34 ' /• E. Le Rossignol and IV. D. Stewart 



legislation would lead in exactly the opposite direction in New 

 Zealand. 



3. The prosperity of New Zealand is chiefly due to the natural 

 resources of the country, as yet only partially developed, and to 

 the high prices for mutton, wool, and dairy produce that have 

 prevailed during the past ten years. The effects of the land leg- 

 islation have therefore been obscured. The policy of the govern- 

 ment in encouraging closer settlement has doubtless contributed 

 to the development of the country, but the rating on unimproved 

 value has probably had little, if any, effect in promoting or re- 

 tarding general or local prosperity. 



4. The increase of buildings and other improvements has been 

 due chiefly, if not altogether, to the general prosperity of the 

 country, and the consequent increase of population. Districts 

 where the old system of rating has been retained have prospered 

 as much as the others. From 1901 to 1906 the population of New- 

 Zealand, exclusive of Maoris, increased by 15 per cent. The cities 

 of Wellington and Christchurch, where rating on unimproved 

 value is in force, increased by 25 per cent and 18 per cent respect- 

 ively, while the city of Auckland, which has kept to the old sys- 

 tem, increased by 22 per cent. Two of the suburbs of Auckland, 

 Devonport, and Grey Lynn, under the new rating, have increased 

 by 35 and 43 per cent respectively, yet the more conservative sub- 

 urbs of Remuera, Mount Albert, and Epsom show gains of 42, 

 75, and 112 per cent. Karori and Onslow, suburbs of Wellington, 

 which adopted rating on unimproved value in 1898 and 1901. have 

 increased by 42 and 82 per cent, while the suburban boroughs of 

 Petone and Miramar, which did not adopt the new rating until 

 1905, have increased by 56 and 95 per cent. The borough of In- 

 vercargill, which adopted the Act in 1901, has increased by 16 

 per cent, and the borough of Tnvercargill South, under the old 



& rating, has increased by 22 per cent. The boroughs of Waimate 

 and Hamilton, where the new system has been in force since 1901, 

 have increased by 20 and 75 per cent, yet the boroughs of Timaru 

 and Gisborne, with the old rating in force, show gains of 18 and 

 108 per cent. The total population of the 21 boroughs which 

 adopted the Act before 1904 shows an increase of 24 per cent, 



282 



