THE ORAKEI ESTATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 7

THE ORAKEI ESTATE.

NATIVES selling privately. ■' ACTION by COMMITTEE. 0V" government intervention ; > sought. i JUSTING of the special committee eet up deal with the acquisition of the Orakei ,tato. on behalf of the city, was held sterday afternoon at the Town Hall. Ie object of the meeting was to consider important feature that was stated to ve arisen in connection with the prosal. The Mayor (Mr. C. J. Parr) pre:ed, and there were also present Messrs. hn Court and J. M. Mennie (members the City Council), J. H. Gtuison (cliairn of the Harbour Board), 0. Nicholson iivor of Mount Eden), and G. Elliot [airman of the Chamber of Commerce). The Mayor reported that certain of the ,ives had been to see him, and had inmecl him that a firm of lawyers had >n endeavouring to arrange for the purse of certain portions of Orakei, in the erest of some private individuals. The ,ives further stated that some of their nber had actually signed transfers and cived cash deposits in respect of their as of land. The Mayor stated that. subsequent to his interview with these . Xlnatives, he had communicated with Messrs. ".?•-? Earl and Kent, who, it had been stated, 'were acting for the private purchaser or • referred to, and asked that firm 7:% for information as to what was taking )plaee. Messrs. Earl and Kent, the Mayor * continued, expressed themselves as unable ■ 'to communicate the desires and intentions .. of their clients, and stated that whatever action had been taken was on behalf of •.^sthese clients in the ordinary course of business. ( Prohibitive Measures Taken. fAll the members of the committee exI pressed themselves very strongly at this \fresh aspect of the matter. The Mayor : (was requested to write to Messrs. Earl land Kent, pointing out that as it had been \ (public knowledge for some time past that . the City Council was promoting legislation ito enable it to acquire the Orakei property ; as, furthermore, both Sir Joseph % Ward and the Hon. A. M. Myers had been approached, and had promised their support, the only inference the committee could draw was that an attempt was being made to purchase portions of the property ahead of the City Council. It was decided to instruct the city solicitor (Mr. T. Cotter) to take certain action.' H with regard to the transactions alleged to have been already entered into recently ; with the Maoris by private individuals. The Mayor was also requested to communi- £ cate with the Minister for Native Affairs ' (Hon. W. D. S. Macdonald), and the com--1 mittee further desired Mr. Parr to proceed to Wellington next week, if he thought necessary, with the view of taking pro- ; hibitory measures to frustrate what the committee considered to be an attempt to anticipate the city in the purchase of this J property for a mode] suburb. Statement by the Mayor. In the course of an interview with a /• Herald representative, after the meeting of the committee, the Mayor, discussing | the subject,, said :"I am exceedingly aurtj prised at what has taken place. Everyone Sn Auckland knows the position. Last 1 November I went to Wellington and saw / Sir Joseph Ward, who recommended that 'J ♦we should put a special Bill through Par-,; • , liaraont this year to enable the city to 1 acquire Orakei as a model suburb. This 'appeared in the newspapers, every reader | of which knew of it. Then, less than a : fortnight ago, we approached Mr. Myers, fit and obtained from him a renewal of Sir Joseph Ward's undertaking to facilitate f'] legislation in the interests of the citizens. Notwithstanding this, certain gentlemen, whose names their solicitors decline to disclose, have decided to get in before the 5 city, and try to acquire the estate. It is fortunate," concluded Mr. Parr, " that we have discovered the position at this aarly etaje."

AT IVES WANT AN OPEN MARKET.

NO PRE-EMPTIVE RIGHT.

| A Herald representative waited upon Mr. Fred Earl, of Messrs. Earl and Kent, and asked that gentleman whether he had anything to state upon the subject on behalf of his firm. Mr. Earl replied:— " I do not feel called upon to make any statement for publication on a matter in which my firm is professionally concerned, without the express permission of our clients. I may, however, say that certain of the native owners not unnaturally consider that, if their land is to be sold, they are entitled to an open market, and the ordinary privilege of dealing with the highest bidder available. They resent the proposal to confer upon any person or corporation a pre-emptive right."