A LAND DEAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 228, 19 September 1908, Page 2

A LAND DEAL.

A TllliElvCOJ(NEtilil) AFFAFK. " HEJ'OIiT OF I'.U! LI A.MEN T'A 11Y COMMITTEE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Lust Nignt. In tiie House of Ucpresenlativcs this '.it'teiU'ion the report of the Lands loniinittee on the Woodward street land transaction between I lie Government, Wellington city Council, ami the company of T. K. Hat-Donald, Limited, was laid Oil the tabic and set down for consideration at til; 1 next dnv. The main allegations made ?n Mr. I'Uhcr whicii the committer were asked lo inve-tigate were to the ell'ect that «..m perches of derelict land situatedon \\ ellinglon Terrace had been suld for considerably less than its real value by the Crown, either to Mac Donald or the Wellington City Council, without competition, and outside the provisions of tiie Statute, whereas the said land should have been disposed of by public competition. It was further aleged that the strip of laud conveyed to the City Council by Mac Donald was

only 0.47 uf a porch and not 4 perches lis stated |,y JlneDonald. Wilson ami Co. in a fetter to the under Secretary of Lands. Tile committee reported that nobody reading MneJJonahl, \\'i|. <01! and Co.'s iuttor could come to any other conclusion oilier than tliat it' was written on behalf 0 J tile Wellington City Council; that the Ministas hud bws! justified by the circumstancos ot the ease in selling (j,55 perches to the Council under section 117 of the ail d Act, 1892; and that the value I'laeed on the land sold by the Department was a fair value." The report proceeded: "Jt is a mutter for 'vgret that Mac Donald, Wilson and Co. ■should not have been more careful when stating the area of tlie strip of aild intended lo be conveyed to the . ty Council. ■ Their letter of 2nd May, '• describes this area as ij uitj*4 ■pemhes, and, further on refers to it

"" '.''"'p. I :'' o< l" a ' and value ■ls the 1,.;,., perches, whereas as a matter ill fact it consisted of 0.47 of a •' J'l'i'cli. MacHonald, when giving evi<l"ntv oa (l„s_ point, declared that on -nd .May, l!!(ii, la. was lirinlv of the XT' 1 f 11 ;'- ,Vite to ® onceilu 4 J of Ins own section to the Citv (ouueil, and that later on, when he discovered that it was only 0.47 that required, he gave 'the lattepiece for nothing, still, this does not exonerate Mac Donald from blame in "'it making himself acquainted with, 1 the real facts of the case before writ-

ing to the Under Secretary of Lands llicrc IS 111 tie do i ';bt Unit. this mistake lu,s »""«•» riso to much public, conimeit oil the whole subject. Your oommiC however, satisfied by the evi- '»> U'i" point that the area of us strip as stated in the said letter of the 2nd May, 11)07, was not a determining factor with the Minister of ! cifySn,^ fi f i ;^ o r'!; n to der section 117 of the Land Act, 1892."