MOERAKI ESTATE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26628, 26 November 1947, Page 7

MOERAKI ESTATE

ACQUISITION BY CROWN

CLAIM FOR cfaMPENSATION

The Otago Land' Sales Committee— Messrs C. B. Barrowclough, D. J. Ross and E. Sincock—was engaged yesterday in hearing a claim for compensation made in respect to the Moeraki Estate, which-has been taken over by the Government for the settlement of returned servicemen. The property which is situatejl on the main Dunedin-Christchurch highway, consists of 1746 acres freehold and 200 acres of Crown leasehold, which is renewable In 1957. The company claimed the sum of £34,541 for the freehold and £350 for loss of the use of the leasehold, but in a budget presented in support of the application the total claim for compensation was reduced to £34,756. The claim was contested by the Crown on the grounds that the amount was excessive, the Crown producing a budget showing the basic value to be £24,494. The company was represented by Mr A. N. Haggitt, and the Crown by Mr J. R. Hampton. Case For Applicants The case for the company, which commenced in the morning, continued until the evening, when an adjournment was taken until this morning, when Crown evidence will be called, and submissions made by counsel. - Mr Haggitt explained that the New Zealand and Australian Land Company was registered in Edinburgh, the New Zealand attorneys being the National Mortgage arid Agency Company of New Zealand, Ltd. There had been considerable difficulty in apportioning the amount of leasehold between this property and the adjoining properties known as Mount Fortune and Macauley’s. Counsel thought that the amount claimed was " absurdly low.” The Moeraki Estate was extremely well known and had been in the same ownership for 80 years, and had been used mainly for stud stock-breeding purposes. The land had been exceptionally well treated and also lightly stocked. Mr Haggitt pointed out that the claim had been drawn up in a hurry. On May 24 last the company had received a request for a valuation from the Land and Survey Department, Wellington, which was required for the purposes of the Servicemen’s Settlement and Land Sales Act, by the Minister of Lands. Nothing more had been heard for some months, and little time had been given the company to put in its claim for compensation. It was now desired to accept the Crown’s figure of £3OOO as the value of the surplus buildings. Counsel stressed that the company did not want one penny more than fair compensation. The budget presented in support of the application represented what a reasonably efficient farmer could be expected to do on the land. Farmer’s Evidence A budget was submitted by Charles Leslie Orbell, farmer, Tirnaru. Witness said he had valued the Moeraki and Mount Fortune properties in October, 1946. The budget had been prepared in conjunction with Mr F. C. Brown, of Waimate. He valued the buildings at £BOOO. Moeraki was not cattle-fattening country, nor was it a great wheat-grow-ing district, but he had heard that over 60 bushels an acre had come off it. “Mr McKellar, of the National Mortgage and Agency Company, Ltd.,” staled Francis Gordon Brown, farmer, Waimate, " told me that the company was not out for the last penny, and that we were not to overestimate in any way.” Witness thought the pastures were probably 25 years old. At least 100 acres were suitable for the growing of wheat. With the farm as it stood, witness considered it would be worth from £l9 to £2O an acre in 1942.

Evidence was also given by William Orr McKellar, inspector of the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand, Ltd., Hugh Armstrong Finch, a former farm manager of the Moeraki Estate, and Robert Henry Henderson, accountant, National Mortgage Company.

To-morrow the committee will hear an application for compensation respecting the Mount Fortune Estate.