The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4094, 10 April 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 10, 1876.

Although in general owners of property through which it has been found necessary to carry railways have met the Government iu a tolerably fair spirit, the old notion of turning a penny at the public expense has not entirely disappeared from among us. Only something more than twenty years have passed since value was conferred upon the lands of Otago through the labor of civilised man, and the greater proportion of the raral land disposed of has been sold at twenty shillings an acre. Yet, in some instances, most exorbitant rates have been asked for repurchase of small areas for public use. The chance of its being required for railway purposes has, in certain instances, been taken into consideration by buyers, and investments have been made accordingly, with a view to getting ssomething out of it “as a spec.” The reasoning is quite logical and businesslike—“ it will never be worth less than a pound an acre, and if the railway comes this way 1 shall get as much for compensation for the bit wanted as will pay for the whole block.” So much for the “ bit that’s wantedbut what of the rest 1 The profit on the “ bit that’s wanted ” is but a small portion of the clear gain on large areas, for although in all probability twenty times its actual value is given for it rather than incur the annoyance, and cost, and delay of arbitration, or the verdict of a Court, the value of the remainder is multiplied according to its adaptation to special purposes rendered available through proximity to the line of mil way. We have lately been treated with legal homilies on the swindles perpetrated at bazaars and horse-races. Legal acumen professes to see no difference and defends transactions of the character to which we have alluded. A hundred or two on a horse race, or five pounds at a bazaar, are pronounced indispensable, while those who endeavor to levy blackmail upon the public by something like attempts at extortion, are regarded merely as wide-awake. Sometimes they overshoot the mark, and are saddled with expenses of arbitration or costs of Court, when they find some tender-hearted counsel objecting to the Judge’s award on the ground that his client will have to pay the costs of suit. The public verdict ought to be “ Served him right,” for the Government agent’s instmetions are to err rather on the liberal side in arrangements for the repurchase of land for public purposes. No one should advocate any other course in such cases, for the public ought to seek no advantage at the expense of individuals; but equally should attempts to become rich at the public expense he discountenanced.