EXCHANGE OF SITES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9093, 20 May 1908, Page 5

EXCHANGE OF SITES.

(To the Editor). Sir,'--I should be glad if y° u wculi] kindl" allow me to throw a little light on one or two matters referred to in your sub-leader of to—day on the above subject. My notice of motionthat the proposed exchange of sites should be referred to a poll of the Trust Lands Trust voters—came up for discussion at the meeting of the Trustees on September 20th last, and as you know, wa3 lost on the casting the Chairman. Two days before the Trust Lands Trustees meeting I submitted the following statement to the member tor the district for submission to the Minister, as i wished to be prepared to state definite facts when discussing the motion of which I had given nocice"The Minister has offered to make the exchange on payment by the Trust Lands Trustees of £I,OOO, and says that it is a very liberal offer on the part of the Government. This latter statement appears mideading in view of the fact that the Government valuer's figures make the actual difference in value of £9;-*5 only. The Government's section in Queen street has a frontage of 49 feet, and is valued at £3,920. The Trust Lands Trust section has a frtntage of 132 feet to Chapel street, tnd 57 feet 6 inches to Hall street, and is valued at £2,365. The difference in these values is £1,555, ai d makes the offer appear a very liberal one. I think the Minister must have made his calculation on this basis. The Empowering Act, however, names 42 feet as the frontage to be given by the Government, thus reducing the actual diFerence in value to £995. I feel sure that the Minister was unaware of this reduction in frontage, and that his offer was meant to cover the actual frontage of the section, as given on the valuation roll, namely, 49 feet." The following was the telegraphed reply received in the afternoon of September 20th: —"Minister of Justice undertakes to convey the full section, having 49 feet frontage to Queen street in terms of the offer made to the Trustees." The Chairman of the Trust declined to allow this information to be discuss-, ed. There was neither time nor opportunity for an "official" communication, as the Chaiiman's motion that "a final reply" be sent to the Minister was carried, and the reply declining the Government's offer was duly forwarded to the Minister. The position was this: —That we were offered £1,555 for £I,OOO, and our own time in which to pay the £1 000, and a section that vvoikl bring in from £2OO to £250 a yesr. Your advice to the Trustees, to accept the offer, and "let bygones be bygones," is sound and sensible. I hope the Trust Lands Trustees an;l the Trust Lands Truat voters also will take it to heart. —I am, etc., W. 11. JACKSON, Masterton, May 19ih, 1908. (Mr Jackson somewhat misinterprets the meaning of our article. However, we shall return to the question at an ecrly date. —Ed,, W.A.)