A QUESTION OF VALUE.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 80, 21 April 1937, Page 4

A QUESTION OF VALUE.

All those concerned— aud they include the whole body of ratepayers within the extensive "harbour district" — to see that the bdst possible return is seeured from the Napier Harbour Boafd's endowments will approve the stand taken by the Board with regard to the land which the Government seeks to acquire for the purposes of its housing scheme. This can be said without in any way throwing cold water upon the extension that scheme to Napier borough. Thpre is a prineiple involved whieh seems altogether to have escaped the notice of the Under-Secretary concerned and whieh, indeed, does not seem to. have been specifically advanced by the Board itself. Possibly this latter may be beeause the present Board is conscious that in one comparatively recent big dealing it did not itself have too much regard for that prineiple. "What Mr. Lee should bear in mind in conducting his negotiations is * that the land he wishes to acquire is essentially a trust property of whieh, as has been indicated, the whole body of harbour xatepayers are the beneficiaries ,and not one in which the borough of Napier is alone iuterested. If the latter had been the case ,then some argument might 'have been admissable in favour of accepting less than actual value. As matters really stiand, however, the Board, in its capacity of trustee, could do no less than stand for securing the price which its responsible valuers placed upon it as reasonabltt. If, as seems to be the case, Mr. Lee holds other vlews as to the value of the land for his purposes, the way is open for him to have the difference decided by a court of competent jurisdiction that can be quite readily and expeditiously set up, If, indeed, he will only allow himself to realise the purely fiduciary position which the Board occupies, he can scarcely but aeknowledge that, from both points of view, the Board 's and his own, this is the only appropriate course to pursue. As it is he virtually threatens Napier Borough with being, for a time at any rate, excluded from the housing scheme merely beeause the Harbour Board, as is its manifest duty, seeks to do its best for those entitled to the benefit of the endowment.