The Proprietors of Atihau-Wanganui v Malpas - [1985] 2 NZLR 468

Maoris and Maori land — Maori vested lands — Valuation of land at termination of lease to assess compensation for improvements — As required by their leases, lessees cleared bush and forest to convert land for pastoral uses — Millable indigenous timber was felled and burned in situ — Milling was uneconomic when timber was burned — If the timber had been standing at expiry of leases it would have been worth more than the value of the improvements effected by the lessees — Whether, in ascertaining the unimproved value of the land, the valuer was required to assume that timber growing on the land at the beginning of the leases was still there.