HOTEL DEAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 September 1944, Page 5

HOTEL DEAL

CONSENT GRANTED — j The Westland Land Sales CommitGee, sitting at Greymouth, to-day, heard an application for the transfer jof a hotel property—the third in re- ' cent weeks. The property was the j Suburban Hotel, the vendor being Joseph McGrath (Mr J. W. Hannan) I and the purchasers E. A. ano H. KI Gillman. The value of the land and | buildings was assessed at £l5OO and I goodwill at £9500. I Mr B. King (Commissioner of 1 Crown Lands) represented the i Crown. Mr Mark Wallace presided, (with Messrs J. W. Greenslade and J. IMulcare. Mr a. F. Jamieson gave evidence that the outgoings for labour had been assessed at £4/10/- a week for income-tax purposes. Joseph McGrath, who said he had been licensee since August, 1937. stated that the only employees were the barman and a maid. Business was better than when he took over the hole! and he was giving up because c.y his wife’s ill-health. He thought .>■ ! 100 a vear would be a reasonable abciwanre for his wife and l.irmelf for their labours in running the hotel. " ’ y, Wnrnes, valuer, said he had in-c.-eemd the property, which would require certain repairs, painting and i raiment for borer. He assessed the les'-ee's interest ot £236, . buildings I’Mli and other improvements £ll5, V total of £1167. He considered £750 would be a fair market value of the land as a freehold. He had allowed building depreciation at 70 per cent, on a table basis. He had made tins'on the basis of a 50-year-old building which had received only routine maintenance. ( i Consent was given at the full cons’der'ation of £ll,OOO, said the Chairman. In i 937 the property had been obtained for £lO,OOO, and on the basis of the increased turnover there seemed to be justification for the in-

crease. The Committee made-it clear that it could not accept entirely leasehold values on the sariie basis as freehold. But, allowing £6OO as the value of the section, there was still ample coverage for the improvements.