THE MELBOURNE LAND BOOM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 241, 12 October 1888, Page 4

THE MELBOURNE LAND BOOM.

There have been booms in gold mines aud booms in »ilver mines in Melbourne, in whioh fortunes have been made and lost in a few months, but there has naver keen anjthing of tbe k ncl so long sustained or of Buob magnificent proportions a^ th.i l>ni boom, which set in five ye* is ago, hn* Bte»dily pr >s>res>ed ever Bine ■, and bhows no Bigns of waning. It i* a loag lime since a Bpeely collapse was prodioecl, but; all propnos k-fttiors o? this sorb have been £e!< asid< by the rapidly increasing prices of land, exceeding tho most enthusiastic aoticipavions. During the past year l'»ni in suburban <lietriotß within ten irrileß of Melbourne hnß risen 100 per cent. While land ia some parts of Oollioß street has reached the price of £2000 per foot, land in the suburbs which a few yearß ago could be got for £50 p< r aoie now realises from £400 to £600 per ncr. There waß n fall in the Bale of the winter of 1887, wt.ioh haa no!; bean observable in the Gold season just eaded. In 1887 a great many of the land auctioneers discontinued selling in the winter reserving themselves for the spring 1 . Messrs Patterson and Sonp, however, were exceptions, and thoir ealea of the Aberfeldie estate, as Ess-melon, wera amongst the most successful of tho year, the net result being £100,000. Many different opinions are advanced a3 to tbe future pro 3. peots of tbe boom and the probable length of i's continuance. Tho predictors of evil in tha past, however, have been co f«r out in their vatioinations that at (.resent the pro-

phete are not highly esteemed. Ib muet be remembered that every year the population is inor. aeing, while the available arei of land is becoming smaller every day. Is is probable ecough, howeve-r, that there will be some sort of reaction in course of time. The figures given below show that the proportions assumed by the land bueineaa nre vastly in exoess of a natural order of things, and there is of course an element; of danger in this. High prioes are stimulated by excited competition, and any Buddenand large witadrawal of capital to other filds of investment would cause a serioua depression. The figures referred to are only offered as approximate estimates, aud it may te taken for granted that they are seriously inflated t>y various circumstances which do not appear on the surface, euoh as the inclusion in the returns of eal*s which ere net bona fide; but; rvtn allowiDg a liberal deduction for buoq things, the sums reached are enormous. The total results of sales from January 1 to the end of September 1887 are given as £1,786,792; and for the corresponding period of 1888 as £13,407,093— 0r an increase of £11.500,000 sterling. Though the weekly amounts have fluctuated considerably, it will be seen that on the whole there has been a steady increase throughout, and that the returns of the last few weeks are nearly equal to the highest monthly average. The subjoined tabulated statement represents approximately the gross total of the land and property sales effected eaoh week from the Ist January 1887, to the end of September in the same year, with the sale 3 for the corresponding period of this year, and relateß to transactions embraced within the suburban railway radius of Melbourne, including the districts of Lilydale, Preston, Van Yean, Whittlesea, Werribee on the Geelong line, and Cragiebum on the NorthEastern system. The list is compiled from the reports of Bales forwarded by land agents and auctioneers' firms, and published eaoh week in the commercial columns of the Age, It is not claimed that the figures represent the whole of the transactions effected, but they are a fair approximation, and as such will indicate clearly the extraordinary magnitude of the land and property " boom " : —

In order to show the remarkable extent to which the " boom" has attained, it may be mentioned that the gross total of the transactions published in the columa of the Age of yesterday and to day, and whioh only represent a portion of the operations of last week, wbb £324,777, whilst for the corresponding period of last year the figures were £70,000.---—Age, September 25.

Reported sales Reported sales in 1887. in 1888. £ £ Ist week .. 16,000 46,000 2nd „ .. 27,000 160,000 3rd „ .. 18,500 123,000 4th „ .. 24,000 137,000 sth „ •• 53,706 175,470 6th „ .. 35,000 93,648 7th „ .. 39,000 148,000 Bth „ .. 31,000 254,000 Dth „ .. 42,000 190,000 10th „ .. 42,500 268,268 11th „ .. 29,800 435,900 12th „ .. 19,546 380,000 13th „ .. 34,983 139,000 Uth „ .. 76,514 362,000 15th „ .. 14,600 249.000 16th „ .. 96,1555 325,000 17th „ .. 59,868 211,000 18th „ .. 29,900 346,000 19th „ .. 23,147 257,000 20th „ .. 31,612 334,000 21st „ .. 57,567 731,000 22nd „ .. 44,165 943,800 23rd „ .. 99,320 876,000 24th „ „ 88,500 911,000 25th „ .. 43,889 424,000 26th „ .. 120,000 1,459,000 27th „ .. 69,000 233,000 28th „ .. 57,000 702,000 29th „ .. 49,000 416,000 30th „ .. 53,000 184,000 31st „ .. 98,500 213,000 32nd „ .. 39,870 263,000 . 33rd „ .. 44 850 137,000 34th „ .. 42,000 217,388 35th „ .. 43,900 530,619 36th „ .. 48,500 218 000 37th „ .. 85,000 368,000 Totals £1,786,792 £13,407,093