£40,000 CLAIM

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 32, 7 February 1930, Page 11

£40,000 CLAIM

QUINTONS CORNER

MEMORIAL- SITE

EVIDENCE AS TO VALUE

The hearing of a claim for compensation for land taken by the Government under the Public Works Act at the corner of Jjambton quay and Bowen street: — known as Quiuton's Comer —at the site of the soldiers' memorial was' continued in the Supreme Court .yesterday afternoon and to-day.

The amount claimed was £40,000;--. the claimant was Joseph Henrys, and the respondent the Minister of Public .Works.

His Honour Mr. Justice Blair presided, and the assessors, wove-Mr. AY. G. Riddell for the claimant, and. Mr. E. Bold for the Minister of Public Works.

M.v A. Gray, K.C., with him Mr. J. J. M"'Grath, appeared- for the claimant, and Mr. A. E. Currie; of the Crown Law Office,, for the Government. . '

Mr. E. Palliser, ]and and estate agent, estimated the rentals at £4617. ■ The locality was an ideal one for small shops. The sura of £12,528 was a moderate estimate of the cost of a three-story building of that class on the site and for such a purpose. He estimated the net return on the total outlay would be 8 per cenf. When he arrived at that estimate he was not aware that the rates on the land were £232. He estimated the value of the land at £40,000, and it must increase in value. He could let two floors at 5s a foot. He was of the opinion that Perrett's ' Corner was probably the next comparable in value with Henrys' Corner; it was not, in his judgment, so valuable. The rental value of Henrys' Corner was higher • than that of properties along the quay to the south as far as Mee's Corner. The first twenty, feet of a frontage was the most valuable. He could let frontages of ten feet in depth, and get good tenants for the shops. He could offer the land of what w..s called Hallensteiu's Building on the quay at £1200 per foot. The Government valuation of the land at Archibald's Building, Willis street, was £500 a foot. The records showed that the property recently sold at £1000 a foot. He thought that Henrys' Corner was more valuable for letting purposes. Witness said he was positive he could get £40,000 for Henrys' ( : Quinton's) Corner if he had it on his books to-day; and the value of the property was. the same in 1928.

In reply' to Mr. Currie, witness said his negotiations with Mr. Henrys were merely verbal.

Mr. Currie submitted that verbal offers were of little value as evidence in such cases.

In making his estimate of the value of Henrys' Corner, witness said, he did not take into account the construction of a road at Fletcher's land a little further south along the quay. If, such a road were made, it would lessen the value of Henrys' land.

John Osborne. Smith, lessee of Henrys' J.uilding, at the corner of Bowen street and Lambton quay,- said that prior to October, 1928, he had approached Mr. Henrys with regard to securing the renewai of his lease (which expires next June) for a further five years at the present rental of £25 per week. That offer was refused.

The hearing was adjourned until this morning.' ■

Further evidence regarding his lease of the claimant's building, was given by John Osborne Smith, who admitted that he knew there was a possibility of the premises being condemned as unfit for use. This contingency had been provided for in the lease.

In reply to Mr. Gray, witness said that he attributed the decline in his business largely to the removal of the adjoining premises. Generally speaking, the shopping area had suffered. The average income from rents in the building was about £6, but the removal of the next-door building and. rumours ,t}iat the property ,;was ' to change hands had adversely .affected-., the letting possibilities. '.''.'. , Questioned by Mr. Bold, witness said that it was possible the new railway sta-. tion would reduce the value of Quinton's Corner as a shopping area through the diversion of train travellers.'

Ilobert Hector Peak, who "occupied part of the Bowen street .frontage of the1 claimant's building, said he found-the corner good for trade. He paid £3 10s a week in rent, and the business warranted a rental of £5. This sum had actually been mentioned before' it was known that the building was to be-demolished, and witness said he would have agreed to the increase.

C. J. S. Harcourt, land agent and valuer, said that he considered £37,000 would be a fair price for the claimant's property. He compared the Bristol Piano Company's old property at the corner of Lambton quay and Brandon streets, which had changed hands for about £40,000, with Quinton's Corner, and said ho considered the Intter property would produce better rentals. For a commercial firm there was no better site in Wellington.

(Proceeding.)