COMPENSATION COURT.

Evening Star, Issue 10182, 8 December 1896, Page 2

COMPENSATION COURT.

(Before Sis, Honor Mr Justice Williams, president, and Messrs A. M‘Kerrow and J. T. Wright, assessors.) ANDERSON V. THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC • WORKS. Claim, £570 odd, on account of land at Burnside taken for railway purposes. Mr Sim appeared for the claimant, Charles William Anderson } Mr Fraser for the respondent. In opening the case Mr Sim said that two pieces of land had been taken. The claim in respect to the piece first taken included a claim for loss of access and also for loss of water rights, but an arrangement had been come to as to these questions of access and water rights, and the only question for the Court was as to tho amount of compensation to be paid to the claimant for the land taken. After the first claim had been put in a second piece of land was taken—the two pieces forming one block —and by consent this second claim had been incorporated with the other. The piece takeil first had all area of 1 acre 1? perches, and it Was Valued at £2OO per acre, or at £221 5& There was a four-roomed cottage on it, which had been removed by the Minister and sent up-country. This house was valued at £BO, making the whole, claim in respect to the first piece of land £3Ol ss. The other piece of land had an area of 1 acre and 28 7 perches, and this, valued at £2OO per acre, was the subject of a claim of £235 in round numbers, and, £3B being added for a stable that was on it, made the claim for this second piece of land £273. The two pieces formed one block, and it was taken for the purposes of a railway siding. The railway was on one side of the land and a district road on the other, and a stream of water ran through it. The total area was 24icres 1 rood and 5.7 poles. John Reid, laud and estate agent and valuer, called by Mr Sim, said in the course of his evidence that he valued the land referred to in January, 1891. He valued it at £2OO per acre for seven acres odd lying on both sides of the railway. The cottage be valued for insurance purposes at from £BO to £IOO and the stable at from £3O to £4O. Their market value would be above that. He should think that the land had not decreased in value since.

W. M. Reid, land and estate agent and valuer, inspected the land last week and valued it at £175 per acre. The land was of exceptional value, as being the key to the railway station and having a stream running along one side of it. To Mr Fraser: The abattoirs land, opposite, cost £SO an acre. He considered that there had been a rise recently in the value of land in that district, owing to the abattoirs purchase. The value of this particular site was not for manufacturing nor residental purposes. Alexander Bartleman, secretary of the Burnside Yards Company, said that in 1877 the company bought, as the site for the yards, 4a 2r 5p at £IOO per acre; in 1878 they bought 2r 88p at £SO per acre; and afterwards they bought a small piece between the two at £SO per acre. To Mr Fraser: He did not think the ground had increased in value.

J. S. Webb, of the National Insurance Company, said that he inspected the cottage six or seven years ago, and insured it for £Bo—that was up to about 75 per cent, of its value. To Mr Fraser: It was an old building. He thought it could be built anew for 4d per cubic foot. Charles E. George, builder, said that he examined the stable in November, and valued it at £BB.—Mr Fraser : Will you give £5 for it, Mr George, as it stands ? Yon can have it.—Witness : I build stables. Ido not buy them.—Mr Fraser: Well, you can have it for £5 and have six months in which to pay. J. B. Thomson, builder and valuer, said his valuation of the stable was £Bs.—To Mr Fraser: It would cost £47 10s to build new. He would give £5 for it if Mr Fraser would give the laud in.—To Mr Sim: He valued the stable, not the land. Mr Sim said that that was all the evidence he proposed to bring as to value. The arrangement as to the water rights was embodied in the agreement already referred to.

Mr Fra-cr said that he would like to be sure, before making arrangements with tenants, that there was a water right. Mr Sim replied that the agreement would speak for itself, hut if they could not come to an understanding in the luncheon hour be would have to ask for an adjournment in order to produce evidence on the subject. Subject to that possibility he closed his case. Mr Fraser, opening on behalf of the respondent, said that the department had sought to bo over-liberal rather than underliberal, but v/hen brought face to face with a preposterous claim of this sort they were bound to meet it. The evidence as to value given on behalf of the claimant was extremely bald, and was not based on recent transactions. As a matter of fact, land in the district had changed hands recently, and prices had been on the down grade. The department had offered £75 per acre for the land (or £25 more than its value, according to their estimate), £33 for the cottage, and £5 for the stable.

Mr Sim said that the offer was really £l5O for the land and building that were taken first.

VV. A. Walton, auctioneer, called by Mr Fraser, said that he had been selling land in Green Island district since 1895. Ho had inspected the land now in dispute, and valued it at from £4O to £SO per acre ; that would be its full market value if properly advertised. There w r as no demand for manufacturing sites in the district. To Mr Sim; The stable was worth about £3 for removal.

W. B. Taylor, town clerk, gave evidence as to the offers made by sellers of land in the district when the Corporation wanted a site for abattoirs.

Gavin Illingworth, carpenter, described the cottage as very dilapidated aud not habitable, and his value of it was £l4 or £ls. The stable never had been a good one, and, new, would not be worth more than £lB or £2O. Its present value would be £4 10s or £5. To Mr Sim : The dwelling was taken to Rock and Pillar and put up as a platelayer’s house. It would cost £7O or £BO to build a good house of the same sort. John Coom, resident engineer, said he advised the department that if they gave £l5O to settle the claim for the land and building first taken it would be full value. The building was offered for sale for removal, and £lO was the best offer. The department put up a good many buildings of the sort, and could pub up one like this for £OO or £65. He allowed £35 for it. As for the stable, anyone could have it for removal for £5.

Jamea M'lndoe, Government valuer, said that hia last valuation of this land and the buildings, for land tax purposes, in 1891, was £24o—viz., £l4O for the land, £BO for the house, and £2O for the stable. The house was nearer thirty than twenty years old. He thought there would be a difficulty about selling the land at auction, because the only access was from a narrow district road. He had sold lands adjoining and had other land to sell. There was no great demand for land in the locality. James Miller, Mayor of Green Island, said that he had a good knowledge from experience of local values. Fair value for this land was £SO an acre. He would regard £75 an acre as a fancy price, A year ago he bought a better site at less than £4O an acre. The stable was a ruin, worth nothing excepting for firewood, There had been no demand in the district for the last two or three years. To Mr Sim: He valued the laud for agricultural purposes. It would be a fair site for a factory. The land about it was leased at £2 10s an acre. To Mr Fraser: He owned land all along the valley, and had no wish to depreciate values.

Mr Fraser intimated that he would like to drive His Honor and the assessors to the ground to have a look at it. His Honor said that the assessors knew the spot, and as for himself an inspection would be of no use without local knowledge. The president and assessors retired at 2.25 p.m., and on returning half an hour later His Honor said : A majority of the Court are of the opinion that the respondent should pay to the claimant in full for the land and buildings taken the sum of £260 without costs.

As to access and water rights, an agreement was come to between the parties to the following effect; — The Minister to grant a right of way to Mr Anderson’s land on the other side of the railway, and to give him the same water rights over the land taken as

were granted to him by the Railway Commissioners by deed dated the ISth October, 1892. Mr Anderson to undertake to allow water to flow from the Kaikorai Stream through the water race on his other property in the same manner as it had heretofore flowed. Mr Fraser asked the Court to fix the assessors’ fees.

His Honor said that Mr Wright had had to come from Arrow and Mr M'Kerrow from Hampden. The fee would be five guineas, each party to pay his own assessor.