GROWN ALLEGED TO EXCEED VALUES FOR PRIVATE LAND SALES

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 August 1947, Page 5

GROWN ALLEGED TO EXCEED VALUES FOR PRIVATE LAND SALES

An allegation that the Crown had bought and also sold sections in Palmerston North at prices substantially in excess of those being assessed by the Valuation Department for private transactions was made by Mr J. M. Gordon at a sitting of the Wellington District Land Sales Committee in Palmerston North. Mr Gordon, who represented a vendor seeking consent for the sale of a section in Vogel street for £lB5, said that prices paid in Crown land transactions should be taken into account in assessing the values of neighbouring properties. Mr E. Anderson, Government valuer, said he had assessed the value of the section in question at £ 115. This was based on a valuation, previously made on a section, on the opposite side of the road which had been sold recently. ■ A suggestion by Mr Gordon thctt this section had been chosen because the .price fixed was very low was denied by the valuer. The committee agreed to adjourn the hearing until details of Crown transactions in the area could be put before the committee. Mr Anderson was asked to provide details of the highest values set on sections in the locality.