RICH CHURCH LANDS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 283, 3 November 1925, Page 14

RICH CHURCH LANDS.

VALUABLE SYDNEY BLOCK. VALUED AT £340,000. SYDNEY, Oct. 22. A Crown grant made to Bishop Broughton, as the Bishop of Australia, away back in 1842, and known as St. James’ glebe, is today valued at £340,000, and it is estimated that in 30 or 40 years it will he worth nearly a million sterling. This rich land is situated on the fringe of the city of Sydney. On one area alone there are no fewer than 600 houses. The land, unfortunately for the Church, is let on leases which do not expire for 40 years, at the low ground rental of £l7 an acre, practically in the heart of tho city itself. When the leases expire in 40 years, the land, of course, will be a source of immense wealth to the Church, but just now, owing to the burdens of taxation and the low ground rental which it is bringing, it is a source of difficulty to it. A proposal to vest the property in the Church of England Property Trust of the diocese of Sydney, in lieu of the present trustees, and a battle which has raged round the question in synod, have brought to light the interesting facts associated with this old Crown grant, made to Bishop Broughton in the days when land was to be had in Sydney for practically a song.