LAND SALES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5473, 11 October 1878, Page 3

LAND SALES.

A report of the Registrar-General of Land

for the year ended 30th June, 1878, has been presented to both Houses of the General Assembly. From the return it appears that the receipt?, exclusive of assurance fund, have been £16,810, as against £13,652 for the preceding year. The expenditure, exclusive of £1938 charged against the Survey Department for salaries of draftsmen, &c., has been £9006. The amount standing to the credit of assurance fund on the 50th June is stated at £14,651. The receipts for the year ending 3bth June last have been £l7i<)7l, as against £16,485 for the preceding year ; the expenditure has been £9962. The number of applications is set down at 1174 ; the area of town and suburban land applied for, 440 a. 3r. 31p.; of country land. 146,749 a. Or. 14p., of tho value of £926,983 14s. lid. The number of transfers is stated at 6770 ; area, 5059 a. 3r. 20p. town and suburban, and 900,873 a. 2r. 9p. ; country. Amount of consideration money, £2,043',935 13s. lid. Number of mortgages, 4081 ; area—town and suburban, 1876 a. 3r. 27p.; country, 1,176,159 a. Or. 30p. Amount secured, £3,329,597 14s. Number of Crown grants, 2407 ; area—town and suburban, 1267 a, Or. 9p.; country, 356,887 a. Or. 28p.; value unascertained. Certificates issued, 4893; caveats, 7 ; searches, 4280 ; general searches, 338 ; caveats against dealings, 174 ; maps deposited, 145; leases registered, 642; powers of attorney, 398. A return of lands sold and deposits paid in tho provincial district of Wellington from the Ist to tho 31st August, 1878, U published in a Gazette issued on Sept. 27th from which it appears that 2129 acres and 5 perches have been disposed of, for which £3460 Is. have been received in cash and £llBO in scrip. Mr. R, J. Duncan sold on September 24 Mrs,. Howard’s property, Sussex-square, 39ft 6in frontage, at £8 10s. per foot, and 46ft 6in frontage to Tasman-street at £8 ss. per foot. The other two lots. were sold afterwards at £7 10a. per foot. It is evident that the price of land in this city is not declining. Messrs. T. Kennedy Macdonald and Co. have just sold that vacant piece of laud opposite St. Peter’s Church, having a frontage of 66 feet to Willis-sfcreet by a depth of 70 feet along Ghuznee-street, the price paid being £IOOO. Mr. Coleman (says the Manawatu Times of the 25th September) has sold, on behalf of the proprietor, that valuable piece of ground on Palmerston-square, lately occupied by Mr. Phillips. The purchaser is a well-known capitalist, resident in the locality, and the price given for the property £450, Land in tho vicinity of Wellington keeps up well in price. On October 2nd Mr. Duncan held a sale at the new township of Ssatoun, Worser Bay, a portion of Mr, J. 0. Crawford's estate. There was a large attendance of buyers, and the lots were eagerly competed for. The sale realised £3561, and of the lots which remained several have been disposed of by private contract. Mr. Francis Sidey’s weekly land sale of city and country properties wasasusual well attended on Sept. 21. Bids were brisk and competition good. The following properties were sold : Dwelling-house iu to ''Mr. Wingate for £350 ; 40 acres near Bunnythorpe to Mr. John Gray at 7os. per acre ; 45 feet freehold land in Pirie-street to Mr, Knowles at 120 j. per fool ; the lease of buildings in front of the Hechabite Hall to Mr. Gray for £BOO ; a cottage in King-street to Mr. Easby for £245 ; and 12 sections of land in Miclhirst to Mr. Crease for £7O.

Good frontages at Marten, says the Ts 7ai!yctmii Chronicle of the 23rd Sept., are rapidly rising in value, some properties having changed hands there within the last week at largely increased rates to those ruling there a few months since. Marten is fast becoming a stirring, prosperous township, and now that the railway passes by it a fresh impetus has been given to all kinds of trade there. The farmers are cropping more extensively than hitherto, so that the future of the place rests upon a very stable basis.

Messrs. Eethune and Hunter sold at auction on October Ist the following valuable properties :—Lot I.—Blairlogie station, situate at Whareama, comprising about 16,000 acres of freehold land, fenced, with dwelling-house, wool-shed, and other buildings, and about 12,000 sheep. Mr. John Morrison was the purchaser of this lot at £27,000. Lot 2. Pahaua station, situate on the East Coast, and comprising about 19,000 acres of freehold land, fenced, with dwelling-house, woolshed, and other improvements ; about 17,009 sheep, 100 head of cattle, horses, &o. Of this Messrs. John and Duncan Cameron were the purchasers at £30,500.

Mr. Francis Sidey reports the result of his laud sales on September 7th and Bth at the Arcade buildings as follows: —18 sections in Carlyle (Patea) at prices ranging from £l7 to £4O per section; 8 sections in Hawera at £35 per section; 13 quarter-acre sections in Woodville (Patea), from £7 10s. to £l2 10s. per section; 1 suburban section, nearly 6 acres, at Woodville (Patea), for £47; 1 section at Sanson, 3S T o. 314, with, small cottage, £80; 5 sections in Waverley, averaging £3O each; sections in Normauby and Kakaramea were bought in; 1 suburban section, No. 43 of No. 33, nearly an acre, at Woodville (MaatertonNapier line) sold for £37 10s.; and 3(1 back sections at Featheraton, each quarter-acre, at from £5 10s. to £8 155.; a dwelling-house in Majoribauk-streot was bought in at £450; 4 cottages in Douglas Wallace-street were not sold. The remarkable success which attended the sale of tho Hon. Robert Campbell’s Whitstone estate on Wednesday by Mr. A. H. Maude, says the Oamaru Evening Mail of tho 20th Sept., is likely, we understand, to lead to the cutting up and sale of other large estates in the district. The very high value which good agricultural land possesses now, and the eager manner in which land of that class is sought after, are likely to prove far more effectual in breaking up the large estates than any ‘‘bursting up ” policy could possibly be. Large laud owners are discovering that by cutting up their immense tracts of country and disposing of them in lots of sufficient area to meet the requirements of persons anxious to acquire farms and homesteads, they can reap greater advantages than they could expect to do by retaining possession of them, and trusting to the ever fluctuating state of the wool market for their profits. For several months past (says the N, Z, Herald of the 19th September) a good deal of Southern capital has been invested in this part of the colony in freehold estate. All fear of any further native disturbances has apparently had the effect of drawing attention to Auckland as a field for investment. In no part of the colony are better investments to be had than in Auckland, where the price of property is low as compared with land of equal quality in tho South. Wo have the boat climate of any portion of New Zealand, and our soil, though much despised in this part, is equal to that to be found elsewhere. Nearly all the land agents in tho city have money from the South for investment, and wo understand that Mr. J. Soppet has been successful during the last week in disposing of a number of farms on Southern account. We hope tho new owners will soon make their presence felt amongst us, and cause a little more enterprise in agriculture than has lately prevailed. At Messrs. J. H. Bethuuo and Co.’s land sale on September 25 there was a very large attendance. Tho lease for 21 years of four sections of 33ft. each in Hawkestone-street realised £BO per annum. The following lots, situated near Mastorton, were also disposed of at the prices stated, which show tho great increase in the value of property in this favorite locality which has taken place lately. Some of this land we understand was purchased n few years a"o at the rate of 10s. per acre. On this occasion tho chief purchasers have been persons living in tho neighborhood, who may reasonably be supposed to be amongst tho best judges of what tho land is worth, and a better testimony to its merits than the list of prices quoted below could not bo produced ;

Tacebv UtOCK, Masteii.to.v-. 4 Area. Per acre. ** Area. rer acre. a. r, i>. £ 8. a. i-3 »• r. p. X> a. 1— 7 2 3 . . 83 0 0 25— 4 X 30 .. 27 0 0 2— 0 8 37 . . 33 0 0 20— 4 8 1.. 20 0 0 11— 8 2 12 . . 27 0 0 27— 5 3 83 . . 27 0 0 12— 5 0 32 . . 33 0 0 2S — 4 2 33 .. 20 0 0 13— 0 0 14 . 32 0 0 20— 4 1C.. 20 0 0 11- 7 0 38 . 30 0 0 30—5 12.. 20 0 0 15— 7 2 3 . 30 0 0 31— 4 2 21 .. 20 0 0 US— 7 2 3 . 33 0 0 32- 5 1 10 .. 20 0 0 17— 9 1 2 . 35 0 0 33— 3 3 32 .. • 20 0 0 18- 7 2 20 . 20 0 0 31— 5 1 18 .. 20 0 0 ID— 7 2 7 . 27 0 0 35—4 2 12 .. 20 0 0 20— 7 1 20 .. 20 0 0 36— 6 8 0 .. 20 0 0 21— 7 0 3 . . 27 0 0 37— 4 1 18 .. 20 0 0 22— 4 3 10 . 20 0 0 38—11 3 15 .. 20 0 0 23— 5 2 20 . . 2*7 0 0 3D— 8 3 0.. 20 0 0 21- 4 8 17 . 20 0 0