£30,000 WORTH OF LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 156, 2 July 1913, Page 5

£30,000 WORTH OF LAND.

SECHKED FOX £3,000. UM>EK~">~EW LAXITLASS. Tbe position in regard to 2SarXyin» s-nbnrbii.il lan<L» came before the ?fcw Lynn Town Board last night. Aβ stated in yesterday's issue, the operations of MrMaeaey's land legislation, of last neeion is having a most peculiar effected pro-. perty values in thai progressive Buburb. Five years ago several hundred acres of Crown land in what was called Eeiaua. hamlet were offered for selection in fiveacre blocks, under the 33 years' renewable lease system, subject to revaluation. The property runs right up to the New Lynn railway station, and, approximately $ there are 100 acres so occupied witHn the town boundaries, the balance heing situated in Waitemaia County. Under last session's legislation the tenants of these blocks were given the right of purchase, at practically the original valuation. Thie meant that while freehold on one eidc of the street was selling at current rate*— £200 to f 300 per acre —the Crown tenants on the other side of the road found themselves, under Mr Masse/s benevolent legislation, in a position to convert their leases into freehold at about £30 per acre.

That the tenants do not intend losing any time in profiting to the inlfcst extent under the change of tenure was evidenced at last night's meeting of the New Lvnn Town Board, when an application was received that the board should approve the plans for the subdivision of these blocks into some 20 quarter-acre sections. -As the block faces two streets, there will be absolutely no' road-making required, and at current value* in the township each quarter-acre, having a frontage of 50ft and depth of 200 ft, should be worth, about £60. The block probaolT- did not cost the owner more than £150. Subdivided, and already so rosded by the board as to gwe him two ■ frontages, the owner should "shortly find himaelf £1.000 better off on tbo transaotion. The board, on rta part, js not disposed to view the changed conditions with dissatisfaction. While the land was held as Crown leasehold it was only paying about haJf the rates that freehold land in the district was paying. Closely settled, under freehold conditions, the income of the board will increase considerably. The application for permission to subdivide which came before last night's meeting was accordingly granted. Other cases of quick profits under the changed conditions arc reported. In one instance a tenant converted nis leasehold of five acres into freehold at a total cost of £172- He valued his house and improvements at f 300. and sold the lot £1.200. According to the estimate of a> Sfew Lynn resident, the Government he*, under the legislation of last session, parted with the freehold of 100 acres in ttte township, worth £30.000, for about £3,000,