The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1884. SALE OF “TOWN” LANDS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 38, 12 January 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1884. SALE OF “TOWN” LANDS.

The land between the Taruheru and Waimata Rivers, Gisborne, is nicely situated for suburban residences, and previous to the plans issued by the “ New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company, Limited,” very many persons were looking forward to the sale of the “town” sections on the 17th inst.; but the vision of pretty suburban residences on the promontory has, we think, been somewhat dispelled. In the first place, the ground has been cut up into too small sections, and the lots advertised for sale are so

situated-dotted over the plain—as to give one thb idea of a kind of chess, board. Then, again, the upset prices are so extravagant as to debar any persons but those with a large capital, who do not value money, from becoming purchasers. We cite the following, as a proof df the justness of our remarks :—The areas of the sections in Block A. —the nearest to the north end of the bridge over the Taruheru River—vary from 22p,, with an upset price df £l7 10s., to 1 r. at £2O ; so that it will be seen the sections are ridiculously small and the prices exorbitant. The same may be said of sections in dll lire blocks • but W0 will quote the areas and prices of the whole of the sub-divisioiis. Block B compfisfea {-acre sections, with upset prices Varying from £l5 to £22. Block C—some distance up the river Taruheru—has areas from la. 32p., at £25, to 3a„ at £3O. Block D comprises suburban sections tip Under the foot of the range, or OU the slope, of from la. 3r Bp., at £4O, to sa. Ir. 4p., at £lOO. The “ township ” is, of course, intersected by “ streets ” on piper, and owing to the sections having been picked out for sale ih a chess-like form, the approaches to any dwellings that may be erected on the property must be, for some time to come, of a wretched character. Nothing; of course, is said about the roads more than that their names are given on the plan, and are intended, it may be presumed, to do honor to a number of New Zealand politicians; so that it may be many years before any of the highways will be formed in that locality, It is all very well for a company to lay off a lot of land and call it a township ; but we would like to ask, do the directors of this “ New Zealand Laud Settlement Company, Limited,” imagine for a moment that the mere fact of their having a large area of land surveyed will cause a township to spring up like a mush, room ? People are too careful of their money these times to warrant the supposition that all the small sections laid off will fetch the extravagant prices quoted above, and we do not think there is the slightest chance of any number of dwellings going up on the Company’s property for some time to come. Speculators may certainly be induced to purchase a section or two here and there, and allow them to remain unoccupied; but no man who wishes to build on a piece of land and improve it would dream, we should think, of purchasing so small an area as marked off on the Company’s plan. We think it is a grave mistake on the part of the directors, cutting up the land into such small sections, and also fixing such upset prices as must deter working men and tradesmen from endeavouring to make nice suburban homes for themselves, at an easy distance from town. Then, as regards sanitary provisions, supposing that a great number of the small sections were sold and built on, the great expense of drainage, the improbability of streets being properly formed for a long time to come, aud the settling of many people in a place of that kind, in a warm climate like this, would undoubtedly prove injurious to health, and make this locality a very objectionable one for people to live in. Of course, the “ NeW Zealand Native Lands Settlement Company, Limited,” has for its particular object the making of money, and it would be absurd to suppose that, as its name may seem to imply, it was started with any philauthropical motives. The settlement of the laud is no consideration with this Company—that, is, so far as the object of providing persons of small means with homes is concerned. The motive of the directors is to make money, having probably in mind the wise man’s business advice to his son—■“ Make money—honestly if you can—but make money.” Of course the Company, having acquired possession of land, have a perfect right to ask what prices they please for the sections ; but it rests with the public to decide whether it is advisable to invest or not, and we must say that the directors have—so far as the general opinion goes — adopted a suicidal policy, which will prove the means of retarding the progress of Gisborne. It must be the desire of every thoughtful and sensible tradesman in this place to see strangers of industrious habits coming and settling down here —to see them invest what little capital they may have in homes for themselves, and they will feel that the extortionate prices now being asked for unimproved land must prove a serious drawback to Gisborne. We sincerely wish it had been otherwise, and that the company had caused their property to be cut up in sections of not less than a quarter-acre each, with several larger ones—say, of from two to five acres—in each block ; so that the prettily-situated land to be offered for sale could be made, ere a few years had flown by, a truly lovely portion of this township.