OTOROHANGA TOWN SECTIONS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 497, 4 September 1912, Page 5

OTOROHANGA TOWN SECTIONS.

SALE BY MAORI LAND BOARD. HIGH PRICES REALISED. Own Correspondent. Otorohanga, This Day. The Maniapoto Land Board, as trustees for the native owners, held a sale of leasehold sections in the township of Otorohanga yesterday. The sale created a lot of excitement and the hall was packed with people, some after sections as a speculation, and some for business premises, others looking for a plot to erect their dwelling house on. Mr Seymour, as auctioneer was kept busy with' the bids. In opening the sale he stated he had been living in the King Country for eighteen years, and knew practically every part of it, and he was confident that Otorohanga was going to be one of the topmost towns in the King Country. It might not be the largest in size, but it would be the soundest financially. He could not point out any other town that had the same class of dairying country surrounding it, nor with so much of it. He then read the terms and conditions of the sale, and announced that two sections were withdrawn from sale. Bidding was decidedly spirited, and there was a keen competition for every section. One lady created a diversion, when, after the rental had been quickly carried to a high figure, and the section knocked down to her she asked where the section was, and discovered she was buying in the wrong place. She asked to be allowed to withdraw her bid. It was again put up and brought a higher figure. The price constitutes a record for Otorohanga, and when it is remembered that the figures are only the yearly rental for a period of twenty-one years with further rights of renewal at re-valuation, the capital values may easily be found by computing the rentals on a 5 per cent, basis. One section works out at about £I9OO an acre. The following are the prices rea-

hsed : —■ Lot Blk. Price Purchaser £ s d I 1 12 10 0 J. A. Ormsby I 2 5 0 0 J. Osmond 2 2 6 5 0 J. A. Ormsby i 4 13 0 0 W. H. Clayton 2 4 12 0 0 N. Prime 3 4 14 5 0 C. Phillips 4 4 22 0 0 A. Hood I 5 14 10 0 R. Watkin 3 5 10 0 0 Native owner 5 5 13 10 0 R. Bell 7 5 14 10 0 J. Clarke 13 11 13 0 0 W. Vicary 14 11 14 5 0 F. Earl 15 11 14 5 0 J. Cleary 16 11 15 0 0 A. Ormsby 17 11 15 0 0 W. H. Clayton 18 11 16 0 0 John Ormsby 5 12 11 0 0 C. .Phillips 6 12 12 15 0 W. Bowlin 7 16 12 5 0 C. Phillips 8 16 12 10 0 J. Willis 9 16 Upset price O'h'ngaTownC'l. 10 16 11 10 0 A. Ormsby II 16 13 10 0 A. Ormsby I 17 18 0 0 Pepene 2 17 17 0 0 Pepene . 3 17 14 0 0 Pepene 4 17 14 5 0 H. J. Osmond 5 17 13 0 0 H. Isaac 6 17 10 0 0 H. J. Osmond 7 17 11 0 0 K. Newton 5 24 5 15 0 H. Hemara 9 24 13 0 0 Pepene 8 ?5 10 0 0 R. F. Gregg 11 25 10 5 0 W. H. Clayton