LAND SPECULATION.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16728, 10 January 1920, Page 3

LAND SPECULATION.

A Wellington bi:.-mcs< man «l;o ha.s iiL-a returned frcm a lengtbr visit t-.< the Wang.mui. Jla«"Ke s Lay. ami Utckiar.d distri.'ts. expressed t.» a ' Now Zealand rimes" representative his :vs-toni.-hmeut at the enormous tnrrea-e in the price of land, especially in some districts in the Auckland pro\ mce. •'I hope i: will be all risiht for the purchasers. he s;ik{ ; "r»ur' 1 am afraid tiiat it will take very luvrd work (wliich is iron! for alii and very h:gli prices (which will mean increased co>t of living) to enable the present owners or tenants to make a living. In some instances land has jumped from i'H> to >"i per acre in l:ve yen, >. "I know (>no ,mau in tho South Auckland district- who purchased -V'O acres of land in 101 I at L'lO ]>er acre. Certainly l:e worked haril on tiie land. Ho was a very capable farmer, and lmew M.'iat to i<i:y. what cows to cull, he understood milk-testing, tho use of milking plants, and bow to grow and alternate crops. lie lias now sold his farm at £'•>"> per acre, with an additional i'IOOO for the eightroomed lionse he had erected thereon. He lias made a good living since L'l'i. and now retires with a ]>r(ilit cf L'SOTK) on the land alone, another profit, on tho house, and a substantial profit on the stock. Sniiic'indy must be paying high prices t,,r things when one mail can make what to him is a small fortune in fhv short Tears."