Walter Peak station advertised for auction

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 10

Walter Peak station advertised for auction

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, July 5.

An advertisement has appeared in “The Times” of London concerning the sale of Walter Peak sheep and cattle station, Queenstown, New Zealand.

The advertisement offers the land for public auction under the terms of a mortgage, and an unusual feature is that no time or date is given for the auction.

Wright Stephenson and Company, Ltd, is named as the auctioneer, and the auction is to take place at the Oak Room, Challenge House, Wellington.

Appearing in the public notices column of “The Times,” the advertisement says that the auction will be carried out “under the conduct of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of New Zealand ,at Dunedin, at the request of the mortgagee and in the exercise of the powers

of sale contained or implied in the memorandum of mortgage No. 241,423 (Southland registry).”

The property offered for sale is described in detail and “the mortgagee’s application containing its estimate of the value of the property to be sold may be seen at the office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court at Dunedin” or at the offices of the mortgagee’s solicitors, Auckland. NO COMMENT Tonight the proprietor of Walter Peak, Mr G. H. Wiles, would not comment on the advertisement but he said that he might be able to make some comment tomorrow. The Registrar of the Supreme Court in Dunedin (Mr J. B. K. Curran) said that he knew of no reason at this

stage for the advertisement to appear in “The Times.”

The mortgage of the property is held by the A.N.Z. Bank, but no comment was available tonight from bank sources.

However, informed opinion is that “The Times” may have published the advertisement prematurely. This view is supported by the fact that in the advertisement dashes and question marks appear instead of the time and date of the auction.

It is also suggested that the airmail edition of “The Times” received in New Zealand is a first edition and the omissions may have been corrected in a later edition. Walter Peak Station was the subject of a public share issue a year ago but this was not successful.

In April of this year, property belonging to Walter Peak, Ltd, in the company’s tourist museum and the company’s share of funds in a joint Queenstown bank account were seized under a writ of sale filed in the Dunedin Supreme Court.