ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13467, 6 July 1909, Page 8

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

j q jl routine flush beats four aces.

THE TWIGGER ESTATE.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PUESS." g- r j have read with considerable interest the objections to the scheme of the Charitable Aid Board ot selling the freehold of part- of the above estate, but do not think the public should oe too hasty in condemning tho Boards action. ~,-, Tho Board have held tins estate tor ii considerable period, but tho earning have been very small, as thero must always be a limit to the value of land used for pastoral purposes. Tho scheme tried a few years ago of adopting Glasgow leases was a dismal failure, as freehold property is so pleutuul, and always will be near a iiat city like Christchurch. Moreover, thc system of Glasgow leases will never encourage the building of a good class of residence, because only the poorest people wili avail themselves of this tenure, and if the estate wero covered with small cottages tho hoped-for increase in laud value would never eventuate, as other suburbs iv the meantime would have developed, whilst the Twigger estate was standing still.

On account of tho gaol and mental hospital tho Lincoln road district has not progressed in. proportion to other suburban districts, and if tho estate was cut up, under the leasehold, and studded with poor dwellings, tho position would bo accentuated, and where would the unearned increment como in at the expiry of the leases? . I claim, with a thirty years' knowJed': ;o of the district, that the Board's action iv offering a portion of tho freehold for sale at once, is commendable, and in the best interests of tho endowment, as by such action a fair price iould bo obtained at once for these sections, and tho proceeds obtained would ensure, when invested in gilt edge securities, a much greater revenue that at present obtainable under pastoral leases. Then five years later, when remaining leases expire, the value of the land will havo increased considerably, and the Board will get the fullest value for tho sections. An instance in point is Beckenham. A few sections wore sold originally for £60, but when good residences sprang up on the_block, similar sections increased to £100. Wher© would Beckenham be to-day if Glasgow leases had been adopted? Either still a paddock, or covered with a few threeroomed cottages. The Board simply cannot afford to hold so valuable an estate indefinitely on a £2 acre rental, and seeing Glasgow leases will not increase the value of the land, there is only one thing to do, and that is to dispose of the freehold, but let it be to the best possible advantage, not through the intermediary of land speculators.—Yours, etc.. FELIX.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PBESS." Sir, —Pardon an error in your correspondence columns re the Twigger Estate. Tho present loose just falling in was for ten years, not twenty-one years, as stated in my letter this morning.—Yours, etc., ROBERT NAIRN. July sth.