DUNEDIN PROPERTY VALUES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 83, 9 April 1929, Page 5

DUNEDIN PROPERTY VALUES.

A BAD ADVERTISEMENT. FALSE IMPRESSION CREATED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. Referring to a judgment concerning the ratable value of the Ross Home which was delivered by Mr. Bartholomew, S.M., in the Assessment Court to-day, the city solicitor (Mr. Barrowclough) said it would probably interest his Worship to know that some of the evidence given in the case by Mr. C. R. Smith and other witnesses on behalf of the objector had been taken out of its context and quoted by Northern newspapers as an indication that the property market in Dunedin was in a deplorable condition. Under captions, "Big Properties Unsaleable" and "A Drug on the Market," there were quoted certain extracts from the evidence which had created an altogether false impression, and which constituted one of the worst advertisements the city had had for a number of years. Mr. Smith and other witnesses were speaking of an exceptional class of property, which must exist in Northern towns as well as in Dunedin, and he (Mr. Barrowclough) was sure they never said or intended to infer that all large properties in Dunedin were unsaleable. Mr. Barrowclough understood that protests had been sent to the local Chamber of Commerce, and 110 doubt that body would effectively deal with the misrepresentation that had been made. He was sure that his Worship and his learned friend would both agree that it was regrettable that Northern papers had been as parochial in their attitude as to seize on part of the evidence and leave out the context with the view of creating an unfavourable impression as regards their city.