LAND SALE.

Auckland Times, Volume 1, Issue 31, 26 January 1843, Page 1

LAND SALE.

Ou Monday the 23rd instant a Government Sale (ook place, when six lots, out of twenty-two, were actually sold, in spite of warning, at a price so utterly disproportionate to their value, as to average about one hundred and twenty-five pounds an acre: the amount, however, is a bagatelle —not exceeding £2O0 —so that the attempted sale is a failure, The position of the land thus sold, is such as to maie it perfectly unavailable for any other purpose than that ot town residences, built ot material sufficiently stout and durable tor our ftew * Zealand vicissitudes ol weather, — and for any other re 1 couiincuifatioir, than the reuiom prospect ol their terming pari < t a crowded city, we defy the most sanguine practical man to estimate their value at above a tithe ot the money paid. It is painful to us thus repeatedly to record—not opinions, but incontrovertible facts, jj which (upon the first blush) may appear to be sponen unkindly of the Colony, —but AucKland has suf fered sufficiently already these follies; the opportunities ot delusion, as far as the British people, and casual visitors to our shores are concerned, is gone by, —and we in very pity do lament to see persons, whose practical experience should have begotten a just estimate of the maxim that 4 Honesty is the best policy,* lending their own personal repu tations and money-bags to the last glimpses of such waning moonshine. The beautifnl paper plan ofth e crowded township that is to be—-

in dimensions, it is true, much improved upon the ' Arachke' plan formerly pursued—was ingeniously produced on Monday, and although the upset price was printed in the Government Gazette at one hundred pounds per acre,the lots were upset at 12s.* 6d. per perch. The prompt aud indignant arithmeticians of the Treasury will say-‘’Tis the same thing Sir!’—and we do not deny it, but, every land gambler, and every clever auctioneer Knows the value of the shift! One comfort is that only six lots out of twenty-two were sold, so that no great mischief has been done. The principal buyer was. a gentleman who was probably led away by the circumstance.ot . llie frontage of the land being | named, on the paper plan afore- j said, after a person deceased, towards whom lie feels, doubtless, many recollections of gratitude, (and none who Knew that gen- j tleman ever remember him without respect); but it is a disgrace to the Home Government to per- j mit, and doubly disgraceful tp j Government to practice such impositions as foisting land lure this upon the manret at an upset price of one hundred pounds per acre! It is perhaps hardly to be expected that we should convince persons of the folly ot these upset prices, for if they will not consider and enquire before they invest their money, they will hardly be persuaded by our mere opinions , but it is a fact, that one hundred pounds an acre is two or three times the price that farm villa residences within ten miles of London,with all their improvements ot house,' gardens, siabling, roads, gaslight, good society, and

capacity tor sub-letting, will produce, and yet, to the injury of the best interests of the colony, silly,people are to he found to buy quarter*acre allotments at twenty-six shillings per perch (just exactly two hundred »nd ten pounds per acre), which will probably bring them a ground rental of thirty shillings per cent, about a hundred years atier they can possibly be alive, and no more and no sooner, unless the disease of land-gambling should breatv out again and infect fools with an hereditary virus, for the counteraction of which, alas ! there is no vaccination. IVe do notclaim tne origination ofthe following bon mh\ but we think it rather a good one : ■MTihy arc f >u- •■iuhi.. hundred and forty yards of land ; upon Albert llili (sold upon the credit of posterity !), Ijx’e one ot Tom Moore’s Lyrics ? D’ye give . it up? Because I hey are/Lv-.*cuu> on-tic !* The comparison of the 1 ‘bolstered commodity,’ with the proverbial negative worth ot ‘An old song,’ is not to be sneezed at, however much it may move to caeliinnation !