Department’s search for landowners

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32977, 25 July 1972, Page 12

Department’s search for landowners

The Commissioner of Crown Lands in Christchurch (Mr G. Mollett) is looking for the descendants of three men who bought small parcels of land at Bealey 107 years ago.

James Grant and William Kintish McLean, both wine merchants, and George Wilkinson Drayton, a blacksmith, each bought in 1865 about one-quarter of an acre of land near Klondyke comer, where the Bealey River joins the Waimakariri River. Why they did this is not clear, although it is thought that they wanted to set up businesses for the travelling public of the day between Christchurch and the West Coast.

The three men obtained the parcels of land by deed of grant before the introduction of compulsory registration of titles. The Lands and Survey Department now has no record of ownership other than that on the original documents of sale. If the department can trace the descendants of the three men it will negotiate to buy the land for inclusion in the Arthur’s Pass National Park. The land is now surrounded by the park and the only evidence of its private ownership is contained in the documents of sale.. The Assistant Commissioner of Crown Lands (Mr F. C. McMullan) said yesterday that the land could not be regarded as valuable. It is near a scattered bush edge east of the main highway fronting the bank of the Bealey River.

“The sections are not very attractive sites and are of limited subdivision potential,” he said. Mr McMullan said he thought it would cost more money to find out who

owned the land now than the land was actually worth. If nobody comes forward to claim the land by August 25 the department will take the final steps necessary to incorporate it in the National Park.