COMPULSORY PURCHASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 March 1936, Page 5

COMPULSORY PURCHASE

WELLINGTON WAREHOUSE.

[per press association.]

DUNEDIN, March 13. Action which might be classed as drastic is legalised under the Public Works Act, and the new Government is taking advantage of it in one case in Wellington, as the head office of J. E. Butler, Ltd., learned to-day by mail, when it received notice from the Assistant Under-Secretary of the Public Works Department that in three months’ time the Government intends to take possession of J, E. Butler’s three-storey modern building on land, the freehold of which belongs to the company, and requiring • the company to give possession at that date, and to supply the Department iwith particulars of eact) tenancy in the building. Negotiations for the sale of the property to the Government have never been entered into, and the proprietors of J. E. Butler, Ltd., are now faced with the problem of acquiring new premises and carrying on business in them within three months’ time.

MINISTER’S EXPLANATION

WELLINGTON, March 13

“There is no intention to use the bh>- stick,” declared the Minister of Public Works (Hon. R. Semple) when his attention was called to a complaint of Messrs. Butler, Ltd., regarding the' Government’s, notification that they must vacate their Wellington warehouse within three months, as it. would be compulsorily purchased to extend the site of the new Government building. The-Minister added that to place a fine State building on the site first adopted would not be proper for a national building, and the Government was taking advantage of the Public Works Act to acquire Butler’s property for the nation’s needs, just as a city acquired property for street widening or other public purposes. “It is a new procedure,” added Mr. Semple. “These people will get 'a fair deal in the same way as others whose property is required for public purposes, either in rural or city areas. The Act provides for the payment of fair and reasonable compensation which, if not mutually agreed upon, is determined by a Compensation Court, on which the property owner is represented. This Government 'is doing nothing more than other Governments did, and no Government would dream of foregoing the right to secure the land needed for public use.”

The decision to compulsorily acquire the three-storeyed brick warehouse at the corner of Stout arid Ballance Streets to extend the site of the new Government building will give this eight-storeyed edifice an imposing frontage of nearly 200 feet, and a corner elevation, There was a proposal before the former Government that Butler’s property be acquired, but, on the score of cost, this wgs abandoned and no negotiations for the purchase took place, although experts advised that this larger scheme would enable between seven and eight acres of floor space to be provided for State use.

The contract for the foundations on the smaller site was let for about £19,000 and the block on which the excavations have proceeded for four months has a frontage to Stout Street of 148 feet, running back 197 feet to Maginnity Street, where the frontage is 99 feet. It partly encircled Butler’s three-storeyed brick warehouse and an adjoining garage, Butler’s having 80 feet frontage to Ballance Street and 50 feet to Stout Street. Work on the foundations was suddenly suspended on March 7 owing to the Government’s decision greatly to extend the.site._