The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 2 December 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1880.

Me. Hewat, a short while ago, made an offer to the Municipal Council of 20s per foot for section 12, block 95, Town of Oaniaru. The applicant's intention was, if the Council accepted his offer, to erect a public hall upon the section in question. But the matter was referred to the Reserves Committee, and they recommended the Council to submit this and other sections to public anction at 25s per foot, which recommendation was accepted by the Council. Thus has another public hall scheme bean nipped in the bud, for we are given to understand that Mr. Hewat, having duly considered the matter, resolved that 20s was the maximum rental that he could afford to give, and. he has therefore abandoned the idea of embarking in the enterprise. We thinkthat the Council havenotacted wisely. Of course, they could not accept Mr. Hewat's offer of 20s, or any other sum that wa3 beneath the price at which the section in question was leased to Messrs. Lees and Moore, which wa3, we believe, 35a. But f hey could have determined to submit the Ifcase i>f the section to public auction at an iir.set price similar to the rate r.ffered by Mr. Hewat, and this, in our opinion, i;. what thrv should have done. We freely admit t}'« possibility of the section failing into the hands of a lessee at a rental beneath its absolute value. But public auction is as fair a test of value as anything else we know of. Other property owners are willing to submit to such a test, and we think that the probability is that the Council would have by its means secured fair value. A remembrance of the fact that this and other sections have remained for years unproductive, should have weighed with the Council in concerting a line of action regarding thein. It may be true that the section in question was previously leased at 3os per foot, and that, in fixing the upset price at 25s a risk is run of its i being leased at 103 per foot beneath that figure. It is also equally true that 35s was paid in times when lessees could better afford to pay that price than 25s now. But we are apprehensive that 35s was more, even in good times, than the actual value of the land for any purpose to which it could be devoted. The former holders evidently felt this, or they would not have elected to pay. such a rental on unused land than run the additional risk of building;, The difference between Mr. Hewat'SjOfier and the Council's upset price is not great. But, where the profits of a project present themselves in the form of | a very fine margin, it must be admitted that it is of no little importance to a projector. By consenting to accept the rate

offered bv Mr. Kewat as the upset price, the Council would have made no sacrifice. In any case the land will, it is to be ex- : pected, realiso wh.it it is worth, whether the upset price be fixed at 20s or 255. The only contineo-ncy to be feared now is {hat the Couneii Lave fixed, an upset price in execs;:- •' its v;;itic. in which' case it will pro>»«Kofe sfil at ail. is it wise to run ?Mch a risk for the sake of maintainir;? an uf.s -:t price that may exist on'y in ths imagination of Councillor- ( Tills quest.iL/a xray be answered by reviewing probabilities. Supposing; that rhe p.eciion fell into the lianas of Mr. . lit.'.v:;c at 203, the lessee would erect a buiMing upon it at a cost of L1500,'-ahd- he would pay' rates upon the section -and, the building. Nobody is paying rates even upon "the section now. This may "be the case for another term of years,' uhless the Council resolves to accept,the value of the section at public auction, and not risk the sale proving abortive by fixing an upset price which might, for aught they know, be a few shillings too high. This is not all. If the section were leased and, a public hall erected upon ..-it, it would become a business centre," and the adjoining sections would be ".at"a prepiium." There is a danger,? we ;think, that the Council is grasping at a shadow and losing the substance.