THE SALE OF TOWN LANDS IN CHARLESTON AND AHAURA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1348, 23 November 1872, Page 2

THE SALE OF TOWN LANDS IN CHARLESTON AND AHAURA.

[to the editor.] .',.. -^ Sir— The holders of business sites in * this town have at length received' the.'-' 1 information, after being kept iv suspense for nearly five years} that they will be ' graciously permitted to purchase their sections provided they have complied with' bertain conditions. These are their having been in occupation for not less than two years under a . business* license or other lawful authority, or. haying erected a building on" the ground of the value of LSO at least. . The price is fixed, at not less than LlO for forty perches, or at the rate, of L4O per acre* The Waste Lands Board, or whichever tribunal will have the final disposal of the applications to purchase, reserves the right to fix any *■■' higher rate as the upset price. What I wish to point out is the gross iniquity and. the barefaced attempt at extortion im- ' plied in this reservation. I have been the holder of a section in this town '.'for, the last four years; ' I had determined, from necessity not; choice, to make my,;future home- here, and I have cleared the land ; and built a dwelling-house upon it; ■ The size of the section is 33fb frontage by 99ft in depth. I have already paid nearly L2O in license fees; or at the enormous rate' of ' L 65 per annum rental, for the privilege of occupying this spot of Qod's earth fp the wilderness, besides ?ontrib^tihg my- " Bhare, according to my meafys, whenever : the hat went round to raise money for Ihe* performance of work in mending street^ «&c., which should, by right, have been done by the Government. lam now told I must .pay. certainly atUhe rate of Li anacre, .and probably double that sum, in ■•<„ addition to all the foregoing, before I can call Jhe, land my own. . lam led to believe < S that tU6 upset price bi town land in!

Christchurch, Dunedin, Auckland, and even Nelson itself and other sea-port towns, when first sold, was under LSO per acre, and yet I am told there are officials on these gold fields, who do 'not pay business or occupation, licenses themselves be it remembered, who are of opinion, forsooth, that LlO per Bection, or at the rate of Ll3O per acre, would be a fair price for land on the gold fields' towns. What I want to draw your attention to, is this .—By fixing the price of my section at not less than at the rate of L4O an acre, I am actually compelled to pay the Provincial Government, or the Land Board, or into the pockets of whomsoever receives the money eventually, a premium on the improvements I have made, instead of receiving compensation for my outlay. The land was worth nothing when I took it up, but in consequence of the expenditure of my hardly-earned money upon it, besides my own labor, it is, judging by the price of land in Greymouth, and allowing for the relative situations of the two places, worth perhaps to me, because it is my home, LlO per acre, and I am called upon to pay four times that amount at least, or else continue to pay more than the full freehold valuo of it every year in the form of a license-fee. Now you see the fix lam in. I must, in order to get a freehold title, purchase my land at four, or perhaps ten times its j value, according as the Board may in its caprice regulate the price, or else I must continue my improvements .until they amount to L4O per acre in value, and then purchase. In the meantime lam paying ruinous occupation fees, so that I think it would be wise to follow a threatened illustrious example by selling out, if lean find a purchaser, and after "shaking the dust from my feet " leave the country. Trusting the inhabitants of Ahaura and Charleston will for once lay aside their petty local differences, and unite together to resist this tyrannical attempt at the perpetration of an act of gross injustice, I am, &c, A Section Holder. Ahaura, November 20.