The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1919. A CENSURABLE LAND SALE.

Taihape Daily Times, 9 July 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1919. A CENSURABLE LAND SALE.

‘With which ils incorporated ‘‘The/ Taihapé Post and Waimarino - News.” u

Another instance-' of how the Government traific awaylthe Public Estate is at this moment bringing down upon them the anathemas and condemnation of Taihape people. Men, long residents of the district, wanting to lacquire business sites, are consumed Hvith wrath; indignation gatherings have discussed it and people are taTking in a way that is not complimentary of the defaulting » Department. This office has been beseiged by irate men. who are vowing vengeance on the Government and its Departments, 4 and all because the Crown Lands Department made some Wellington resident a present of about £2OOO worth of Taihape’s choicest building s.ites, the very sites that have been talked about and waited for. Men rode, or drove, into Taihape from long distances. because rumour said these building sites referred to were going to be sold; and now we can state ‘ivlratiewe have personal knowledge of. "Several men came'vto thisoflice and told us they had also been told. there was to be "a sale at two-thirty that afternoon. ‘We did not know anything about it, ‘and we consequently »ad'--vised them‘ to look around the building on the site for the -Department‘ would have been sure to placard some notification thereon, There hadpbeenl ‘no notification’_o'i¥ ‘such a sale adver-3 tiscd in this journal for at least a "fortnight, and some of the Taihape ‘land advertised had’ been withdrawn from sale. We then looked back over our file and found that the sale of the land, which is the source of 't?ouble, was given twolines in our issue of June 6th'_ One of our employees was then sent on a mission of investigatinn, ‘and when he reached the Post Office at 10.23 a.m. he saw a. strange man puting something on the small notice board used for displaying ‘vartelegrams. ‘He wailkedover-to where the sale waste be andreached there four minutes after 10.30 and was just. in time to hear another stranger to the town say “reserve,” thc"'salesman‘ knocked it down and -between £2ooo‘ and £3‘ooo..worth of the very finest and; xchoicest business site in ‘the town was gone for _£B_2s,.not a Taihape man beming present to. make an offer, This is ‘not a- journal thatvhesitates to. call things-by their ‘right names for fear it , should disturbi-the equanimity of the; "conscience -of any' man, or of then lower, instincts of those who’ are do. void of conscience. We wrote to the Crown Lands Departiiient. mentioning what had occurred, and we may‘ say it is the first time in our -journalistic experience some sort of reply has not been made to our enquiries_ Perhaps, the Department does not view this, little sleight-of—hand business as we,’ in Taihape. do. VVO mean that this valuable land was all disposed of in so marvellously short a time. without any attempt on the Departmcnt’s side being made to let people understand I the most valuable piece of their town was going to be given away_ we’ do ‘not know how the Department win; view it, but simmering it down to a‘ few words, this is how we View it: Two men came from Vvellington. one to sell the land, the other to hey it I and nobody took any trouble to 19,1: fgllyone els; know anything about it, e man W 0 Cam _ . 10.23 posting a seintsllgezlilotgas Seen at Post Office and at 10 34 ate: at the: ’ ~ , east, and at..ts lowest value, £2000», worth of ::;:‘:‘“i,:;:;,:;:::ai:e°l to Those two Sites are a :11 for .£S25.' and had fair and reasooss to Talhape’ . , “able Opportunity been given, there would certainly! have _b°e“ no foreign ownership, or; alrlrythmg that could have come under‘ :o:n::::::r:i:: :22: ml ’ . course, we gl:l:::tnll;:tmanf’for buying if; a: fool‘ lovely opportulgftlvldes him with such’ is that basin 1 s', what. concerns us other: ~11“ 195 s extension we and for in c 9 ‘:33 Dlanned and waited °mleCtlon with the town’s progress has been clandestinely made imP°sSlbl6~ We have been told the purchase’ Values his bargain at £3OOO, and we are not 3111'DriBed, for we know that the first bid a leading Taihape businessman would have made for the front section alone, was £IOOO. While there. is a. famine of business‘ sites in the business centre in this ‘town of

uneven topogl‘aphy;~ while the demand

is at" its height: while: business D 18" imises on land of less than half the larea arefsclling at £3OOO, the last lpiecc .of building land suitable for ibusiness premises, in the hands of the ;Government, is given away toa Wellington man, by’ a salesman from Wellington for £825, before Taihape businessmen, or, in fact,‘ anyone else is aware of what is taking place. The Lands 'Depar_tmcnt may feel that it is no concern of theirs what Taihapc land is sold for-_. and that, therefore, they are not feeling bound to give intelligent notice of lands for sale; that it does not matter ‘to them whether, land sells for the whole or {even a fourth its real value, and _it Twas no business of theirs to put any %notice on the property in the centre of the town, or anywhere else. Two llincs were given in the Taihape newspaper on the 6th June, and they no doubt think that as it brought (me man from Wellington to buy the sections it should have made Taihape aware of the Departinent’s intentions. Wellington has had a good innings, two men come into Taihapeunnoticed, ronc sells the other b'us's the "choicest and most valuable business site in the town. This constitutes a question in connection wtih which the services of the Member of Parliament should be enlisted, and if there is no good reason to the contrary? ‘it should‘ become a. subject for mention in _Par-i liamcnt, for we are quite sure Parlia-i ment would be no party to Borough lands being dealt with and disposed of in this Way. We invite the attentionof all political .parfi'es, Reform, Liberal and Labour, to this metliod of disposing of the publicestate, for it is nothing short of the principle that‘ is working in the aggregation of rural I lands in this district being introduced into the disposal of Borough business sites. We shall be accused of writing in anger, and we admit doing so, because We feel we have the maximum justification '"for anger at; such cavalier disposition of our only‘ available. valriable,-i”i’l'l"§'ili'ess sites. i