BUSHY PARK PURCHASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10433, 4 May 1897, Page 5

BUSHY PARK PURCHASE.

FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE, [BY TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.] Wklijngton, Monday. The following is a continuation of the correspondence between the Minister of Lands and Mr. G. Hutchison, M.H.R. (Patea):-

The latter writes on April 27: "Thanks for your Bushy Park reply. The position is certainly humourous, but I think it would be a pity to push the joke the length you suggest. Possibly, on reflection, you will agree that it would be a sorry piece ot pleasantry to ask one's host for a perusal of his title deeds. Bub there need be no difficulty. As far as I know the registered post is still free from inspection, and might) be trusted to return the deeds that were unfortunately sent away just before receipt of my request. A few days' delay don't matter —thab is if you do not wish to withdraw the offer which was my excuse for troubling you; or if the deeds cannot conveniently be returned, the solicitors who might have produced them on your order will no doubt have copies or drafts, which would give all the information necessary. Why not send an authority to see them ?"

On April 30 Mr. Hutchison writes :- "No answer f So. your offer to produce thedeede was sheer bluff? And now you desire that silence shall fall upon Bushy Park? Thab cannot be. Bub before dealing with the purchase permib me a passing reference to your letter of the 26th. Some people seem to think your invitation to me to visit Bushy Park was intended as a piece of brutal malignity. The language you used certainly supports an interpretation different from that I supposed, bub I am still unwilling to believe you would so disgrace the name of hospitality as to contemphitehareh measures on such an occasion. To suppose your invitation to visit Bushy Park covered a design to shoot your guest, would be to suppose what might damage oven the reputation of a Cabinet Minister. Because a tragedy on the spot might depredate the value of such a fine property. On every consideration, therefore, it would have been unwise of you to harbour such bloodthirsty feelings, so shat I am probably right in assuming that what most people considered rudeness you intended for wit." After further reference to previous correspondence, Mr. Hutchison proceeds :—" Your sons have secured a bargain. They are to be congratulated. That is their affair. The public's affair is to ascertain whether this bargain was obtained under circumstances that amount to the bestowal of a personal favour by those whose duty ib is to guard the interests of the taxpayers." After dealing with the banking legislation and tho value of the "Globo assets," the writer goes on:— " The book value of Bushy Park has never been disclosed to the public, but it may be safely stated at nob less than £32,000. Its latest ascertained value (in August, 1695) was £7000 less, and what may be called its realised value (now in 1897) is £5000 lower still. So that the realised value is nob less than £12,000 short of the book value. After the general election arrangements were concluded for the lease of the land, with a contraot to purchase, and for the sale of the stock at an amount to be fixed by the valuation of one of the purchasers, and of one of the station managers of the Board. An umpire was appointed, bub his services were unnecessary. The two valuers agreed, so that the purchasers got the stock virtually ab their own figure. Thab figure was a little more than one-half of the value ab which it had been assessed a few months before for public purposes. Let us Bee how this transaction, which you seek to justify, accords with the treatment which you, as a Minister of the Crown, consider good enough for others. 1. Advances to settlers may be obtained from the Board of which you are a member at 5 per cent; public funds have been made available to your sons by another Board, of which two members are Government nominees, «t4J percent.; advances to settlers are restricted (and properly so) to three-fifths the freehold valuation; advances to your sons nro made to the full limit of the purchase money. 2. Selectors under your Loan Acts are restricted to 640 aores of first-class land | your sons are assisted by the Board appointed under the Bank of New Zealand and Banking Acb to 2243 acres of first-class land. 3. Selectors under the Lands for Settlements Aots (being those dealing with properties which most nearly admit of a parallel to Bushy Park) are restricted to a lease in perpetuity at a five per cent, rental on a valuation which is generally considered too high. Your sons are enabled by the Assets Board to acquire a freehold with funds provided ab 4£ per cent, on a valuation which is generally considered too low, The latest edition of the Crown Lands Guide, Issued under your authority as Minister of Lands', urges on the public the desirability of taking up the unsettled and forfeited seotions in the Pomahaka blook, and other recent investments of public capital. Why were your sons nob persuaded to try the specific for true settlement, the lease in perpetuity, which you so strongly recommend to others, instead of being encouraged to embark "on that doomed tenure of freehold which in this instance has the enervating distinction of an expensive homestead !" The Minister of Lands replies on May 1 as follows :—

" You have only half grasped the true inwardness of my letter. As you rightly surmise, there was no design to shoot you or in any other way anticipate the due course of nature or law, but I intended to bring homo to you as delicately as possible that your demand to pry into my son's private affairs savoured of Impertinence, and herein I have seemingly failed, Permit me, therefore, to be more explicit. When speaking at Newtown, I was addressing the electors of the suburbs, and had procured my sons'authority to place their deeds at the disposal of any elector whose vote might bo influenced by his judgment on the Bushy Park transaction. This was what I meant to convey, and this I still think is the only reasonable construction my words can bear. The sup position that the documents were to be kept here for all time, in order to gratify the idle curiosity or political spleen of any Dick, Tom, Harry, or George, is [an absurdity too palpable for even you to seriously entertain, and Ido nob for a moment believe that you do. As for the lengthy and laboured misrepresentations and distortions that make up the rest of your letter, I have neither time nor inclination to expose them. The fabrication of them has no doubt been a labour of love, and if they gratify, they do not hurt either me or my eons. So all parties are content. Moreover, I am satisfied that the public, for whose benefit you have concocted them,' will appraise them, coming from such a source, at precisely their proper value. You have the advantage over me in this correspondence in eo far as, instead of being a lawyer out of employment, I am a plain man whose hands are more than fully occupied with important business matters, so my share In It must cease." To the above Mr. Hutchison rejoins in a letter this afternoon. He asks: "Were you serious at Newtown when you said ' anyone' might seethe deeds, or did you only intend the inspection for electors previously sworn to secrecy ? After all, the one point you have managed to make quite clear is the wisdom of the'decision you have arrived at not to discuss the facts. Busby Park must remain a tender subject with you,"