THAT STRATFORD PURCHASE

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1689, 4 March 1913, Page 4

THAT STRATFORD PURCHASE

OFFICIAL REPLY TO CRITICISM. Somo prominence has been given by Opposition papers recently to adverse criticisms of the GovornnicntVaotion in purchasing certain land at Stratford for extensions of the railway station yard. It has Iweii nllegcd in effect that tho price paid was unwarrantably high. A high official of the Railway Department' informed a Dominion reporter yesterday that tho Department courted tho fullest inquiry into the transaction. Tho mail who had represented tho Department ill tho matter had lived in tho district for many years, and ho know tho value of property there. Ho had conducted all tlio Department's negotiations for tho purchase of land acquired for the Now Plymouth deviation. Ho was, in fact, a most satisfactory man, and a most reliable valuer. To land that tho Government had purchased was 39 perches in area, and tlio prico paid was '.£I2OO. It was truo that tlio Government valuation was only ,£470, but it was admitted that tllß .' Government valuation did not always represent tlio truo value. Tho adjoining section, 27 perches in area, known as the Trocadero site, which was valued for taxation purposes at' had been put under offer to tho Department for .£3500, and private valuers had snid that it was worth as much as ,£2500. After a lot of negotiations, tho representative of the Department was advisod by tho owners that tht-y would not 'accept less than J3UOO. An offer of .£I2OO, to cover all contingent expenses, was made to them, and it was filially aocepted, after a littlo delay. Had tho Department gone to tlio Compensation Court, it was very doubtful whether they would liavo mado any better bargain, and in addition they . would have been required to pay a considerable sum in cosla,