MID-CITY BLOCK SOLD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3139, 18 July 1917, Page 6

MID-CITY BLOCK SOLD

-—i PRICE, ,£25,400. The long-established firm o£ Edward Anderson and Co., Ltd., china and glass merchants, of Willis Street, is shortly to wind up its affairs altogether; The reason, primarily, for tins step is the health of the inu,ch-respeeted head of the firm, which is far from satisfactory. Tho property, which has a frontage to Willis Street of 56ft. by a depth of 229 ft. (covered by a two-story sliop, stores, and warehouse), has been purchased by Mr. H. D. Bennett, of Taihape (ivho lately purchased the grocery business and lease of Messrs. Hill Bros., of Lambton Quay). The purchase price for the Edward Anderson block was .£25,400, which Mr. Anderson himself says is "a good price for the seller and a bargain for the buyer." The business of Edward Anderson and Co., Ltd., is one of those old concerns which hare Iwen associated with Wellington almost since its birth, and it has grown up steadily and surely with the city. It is therefore not without a tinge o"f sentimental regret that old residents will learn of the end so soon to be. A great business like this cannot bo wound up in a week or two, and the property is not to 1» handed over to its new. owner until January 31 next.

Mr. Edward Anderson says that his father, the late Mr. David Anderson, arrived in Wellington from England by the ship Pilgrim in the year 1849. Ho at once commenced to look round for a likely site on which to commence business, and hit'upon'the one. occupied, to-dny by the firm. Mr. Anderson bought the land, but it was not long before he found that he had purchased what was then known as a "squatter's title," which was no title at all, but merely the claim put forward by ono who was squatting on the land for the time being. The arrival of the real owner straightened out the matter of ownership, and from that party Mr. David Anderson secured a tw;entyono years' lease. On the expiry of font lease", in the year 1871, Mr. Edward Anderson bought the freehold, and from then on conducted mid extended the business in person until it renched its present dimensions. The business of Mr. David Anderson, senior, was of a gen--eral character, but Mr. Edward Anderson centred his attention on china and glassware. It must be remembered that in 1849, when the business was inaugurated, Willis Street was so narrow opposite tho store that two carts could not pass, comfortably. The waters of the harbour washed up to the other side of the road, and in rough weather invaded the public way. The earthquakes of 1855 raised the land about three "feet, and subsequent reclamation v;orks completely altered the aspect of the locality. It should be mentioned that since the year 190G the business has been registered as a private company. ■ The disposal of the' establishment will mean the retirement from active business life of Mr. Edward Anderson, whose uninmeachable probity has earned for him the. esteem of tho commnnifx. The sale of the block was effected through the agency of Messrs. A. Longmoro and Co.