N.Z. GOVERNMENT PURCHASE OF LONDON HOTEL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 August 1949, Page 2

N.Z. GOVERNMENT PURCHASE OF LONDON HOTEL

WELLINGTON, This Day (0.C.).— The purchase by the New Zealand Government of the Carlton Hotel property in London was mentioned in the report of the Controller and Au'ditorGeneral (Mr J. P. Rutherford) presented to the House of' Representatives.

“An important transaction during the year was the acquisition by the Government of the property in London which is at present occupied by the Carlton Hotel arid His Majesty’s Theatre,” said the report. “By the payment of £325,000 to the Carlton Hotel Company the Government took over the company’s interests in the site and. buildings. A new lease for 99 years, which requires the payment of an annual ground rent of £16,000, was then entered into with the United Kingdom Commissioners of Crown Lands.

“It appears that the present buildings cannot be satisfactorily adapted as New Zealand Government offices and that they will have to be demolished. Agreements with the existing tenants and building restrictions are likely to cause this to be deferred for some years. It is anticipated that the rents which will be collected meanwhile will provide approximately for the outgoings, plus 4 per cent, interest on the £325,000, but they will not provide for the loss of this capital on demolition. Such a loss will, in effect, be an addition to the cost of the New Zealand House,' London.”