NEW GOVERNMENT OFFICE SITE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 171, 16 April 1937, Page 5

NEW GOVERNMENT OFFICE SITE

Compensation Claims CASE FOR WELLESLEY CLUB OPENS Concluding the hearing of the case in which John Edward Butler, Ltd., claimed £41,000 from the Minister of Public Works as compensation for the loss of land at the corner of Stout Street and Ballance Street, Wellington, taken for new Government offices, the Compensation Court yesterday began to hear the claim of the Wellesley Club, owners of adjoining property, for £17,976/1/6. The land belonging to the club which the Government has taken is between the building the club occupies and the site of Butler’s building, and counsel for the club, the Hon. W. Perry, said it had intended to extend its premises over that land but had been delayed by a decrease in membership during the depression. A recovery in the membership had caused the accommodation to be too small again. Mr. Justice Reed, who presided, had with him as assessors the Hon. Sir Charles Statham and Mr. H. E. Leighton. Mr. L. K. Wilson appeared for J. E. Butler, Ltd., and Mr. A. E. Currie and Mr. N. A. Foden for the Crown. . Value of Butler’s Land. Giving evidence for the Crown in the case touching Butler’s land, Charles Thomas Buckingham, district valuer for the city of Wellington, said he considered the value of the land and building of the Butler property to be £19,400. He allowed £10,900 for the land and £B5OO for the building, the latter sum Including depreciation and obsolescence. The replacement value of the building he estimated to be £14,182 10/-. William Hollis Leighton, land valuer, produced a summary of his valuation, in which he allowed £7762 for the building itself and £10,642/10/- for the land —a total of £18,404/10/-. George Halliday, land valuer, said he considered the site was worth £ll,BBO and the building £7500, giving land and building together a value of £19,380. After Messrs. Currie'and Wilson had addressed the court it reserved its decision. Case for Wellesley ClubOpening the case for the club, Mr. Perry said its claim came under three headings. For the land lost by the club £13,476/7/6 was claimed, which had been worked out at £2/15/- a square foot. Alternatively, the claim worked out at £265 a lineal foot. The second heading was a claim of £2500 for the building, and the third a claim of £2OOO for severance and injurious affection, making the total £17,976/7/6, in addition to which interest since the land was taken was claimed. The claim had features in common with that of J. E. Butler, Ltd., and witnesses called in that case would be called to give evidence for the club. The land inmlved was a section similar to that on which the club’s own premises stood, fronting Ballance Street. The whole property, 90ft. by 99ft., had been purchased in 1924 for £25,000. and half had now been taken by the proclamation. Both Messrs. C. J. S. Harcourt and R. E. Tolhurst, whom he would call to "ire evidence, were members of the club. ?aid Mr. Perry, but they had not been asked by the club to report on the. properties. because they were members. They had been asked to make investigations for J. E. Butler, Ltd., and now were to give evidence for the club also. Club’s Purcliase of Land.Extracts from the club committee’s minuter would show that in 1923 the found the accommodation in the old building in Featherston Street was too small. A proposal to add stories to the building was rejected, and a new site was sought. Plans for a building in the present situation were obtained, the scheme being to use the whole property.- The building was to be of six stories, the lowest four of which would be let. After negotiation the club decided in January, 1924, that it could not purchase the land for less than £25,000. Having found the building would cost £70,000, the club decided to build the less expensive premises it now had. A month or two later it was decided to sell the adjoining section at £13,000. Two months later still, no- bid apparently having been received, the land was placed in the hands of six agents. In 1926, the land still -being in the hands of the club, it was leased for two years at £l2 a week, subject to a sale being effected. In 1929, however, the membership of the club, town and country, had risen to 711. Lack of accommodation again became acute, and architects were instructed to estimate the cost of extending the bar accommodation bn the ground floor right across the section that had just been taken by the Crown, and to extend the first floor also. The subject was- left in abeyance, and betweert 1930 and 1934 it Was impossible for the club to contemplate the scheme of extension. The building next door to the Wellesley Club continued to be leased through the depression, the last lease being at £395 ji year. Membership Growing Again. In 1935 the Government valuation of the land that had been taken had been £6680, and the valuation of the land still occupied £7175. The building was valued at £25,000. The membership of the club had stood as follows in each of the rears mentioned: 1926, 613 members; 1928, 704; 1929, 711; 1930, 679; 1931, 651; 1932, 594; 1933, 533; 1934. 535; 1935, 673; 1936, 673. Thus, in 1935 and 1936 the club had come back to the position it had been in when it had considered the extension scheme. Even in the depths of the depression the club had placed a price of £15,000 on the section that had been taken, when approached by an agent, and had left the proposal open for a month only. Even then the club had not been particularly anxious to e-11. but when the land was taken the pressure on the club’s accommodation was becoming acute. An architect would say that it would be impracticable or difficult to provide increased accommodation on the present club premises. His Honour: It is always an advantage to have a waiting list. It puts you on a pinnacle. Mr. Perry: Yes, but from the point of view of revenue it is not desiable that the waiting list should be too long. He said that the taking of the section might have very serious effects on the club’s future. Available freehold sites in the locality were scarce. Charles W. Tringham, president of the club and an officer of it for 28 years, gave evidence in support of Mr. Perry's opening address and was still in (he box when the court adjourned until this morning.