COMPENSATION COURT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2168, 12 September 1895, Page 14

COMPENSATION COURT.

Tuesday, Septemdbr 3. (Before Mr Justice Williams, president, and two assessors — Messrs Robert Hay and Donald Ik-id.) !THB NBW ZEALAND AND ATJSTFALIAN LAND COMPANY V. THK MINISTER FOR LANDS. Cia'm for £45,890, as compensation for the comjul-ory taking by the Minister for Lands, andtr the Laud for Settlements Act, of the AtdgowfrD, estate, comprising 4266 acres, situate near Oaoaaru. Mr P. R Chapman appeared for the claimant*, the New Zetland and Australian Land Comp»> y (Limited) ; and Mr Pr&ser, with him Mr Newton (of Oamaru), for the respondent, the Minister for Lands. The c«se for the claimants was continued at 10.30 a.m. Thomas Brydcne, re-examined by Mr Chapmau, said he had taken out the figures of the land sales at Ardgowan. The total acreage sold and appropriated for roads was 1917 acres, wbieh were sold for £25,662, giving an average of £13 7s per tore. Of this laud 855 acres, including the roads for subdivisions, were ftonta go areas, and averaged £19 Is Id per acre, «md 1062 acres were at the back. By Mr Fraser: Clydevale was one of the compai ies' properties, but theie was no comparisen between them. His Honor : Where is Clydevale ? Mr Fraser : Next the celebrated Pomahaka.— (A laugh) Witness continued : Cljdevale was of very varied character. Thero wcro about 40,000 •ores in it. There was a very great difference between Clydevala and Ardgowau— mote than 50 per cent, difference. Cljdtvalc was not worth half what Ardgowan was worth. The two properties wf re not like oue another at all. John Campbell Gilchri*t, Jiving at Brookfleld, near O&maru, deposed that he was a skeep farmer, and bad been iv the Oamaru' district for 35 yeais. Brook&eld adjeiued Ardgowan at one comer on the town side. Toxt w*s where witness lived. He had another property called Kosebery, at the back of Ardgowan, which was worked by hio sons. Rostbery was good etock country, but rather rough— not nearly as level as Ardgowau, and not nearly so valuable. He knew Ardgowan befcre there was auy fence on it or before a plough had been put in it. Ho bad est ; matcd its value in two blocks. The side next Weston— the whole of Waiareka ridiDg and Jones's paddock— comprising 2827 acres, or two-thirds of the estate, he valued at £10 10s p«r acre, ranking £29,683 10s. The rest of the property was ridges but cob very bad. Of it there were 1414 acres, which he valued at £7, making £9898. That gave a totil value of £39,581 10<?, or £9 6s an acre all over. He threw the buildings and plantation in. He took tfae estate by iteelf as haviDg no connection with any other property in any shape or form, *nd as being worked by itself. There was no estate in the Osmaru district that was better watered than Ardgowan. At the values he bad given he was quite satisfied he could make the property pay. The are* of Rosebcry was 5400 acres. The area of Brook fie Id wns only 300 seres. Mr Freser : You a-e a large landed proprietor in thfj district, Mr Qilchris 1 . ? Witness replied ho was in a small way. Mr Eraser: And the lower Ardgowan goes the lower your property goes ? Witness : I suppose so. Mr Fraeer : And you have especial desire to lower the price of your property ? Witnf-83 replied that naturally he had not. He thought Ardgowen was capable of carrying 1 1000 sheep for Uje eucinacr and 7500 cheep for &6 winter.

Mr Fraser : Land is lower new than ever it was? Witnew : No. Mr Fraser : When was it lower ? Witn«is : When people bought ifc from the Government originally.— (Laughter.) He gave Ardgowan an average currying capacity of 8250. sheep, and he estimated the produce of each sheep at sj. That gave £2062 as tbo wool money. He put down 1000 fat lambs at 10s, 2000 store lambs at 7s, 2000 fat sheep at 12s 6d, 500 culls at 5s 6d, 5750 sheep at Bs, and 400 acr< s iv crop at an average of 20s, or a total of £7349 10j. He baf ed his estimate • upon the place bjing stocked at the beginning of the season, and upon the stock being sold off at the close. For expenses he put down 8250 sheep at Bs, shepherds' expenses £200, shearing, dipping, carting wool, and repairing expenses £600, barbour and county and sheep ratoa £120, land tax £100, sowing 400 acrea £200, or » total of £4520. The difference between £7349 10s and £4520 represented the profit. He thought that Ardgowau would let at 10s to 12s per acre all over. It was well worth that. To Mr Chapman : Withe* thought a person could take it at that nnd make it pay. Alexander Malcolm, farmer, deposed he had been at Ecfield between 19 and 20 years. He had 406 acres there. He passed Ardgowwi regnlarly and knew it slightly. It was a well nursed property— well taken care of and in good heart, well-fenced and convenient to town. By a well- nursed property he mes-nt that it was nob cropped out. It was in good heart now for croppirg. When land was well treated and not crepped out, it would give a quick rsturn. He considered he wa9 an average indi»idu»l, abe to judge of the value of land in the district. He (witness) stated bia valuations cf the paddocks into which the estate was divided. (The valuations gave an average of £8 18s 9d per acre, and a total of £37.828.) Witness put an additional £500 on to his valu\tions for the buildings. He valued the property just as he found it. By Mr Frsser : He was fully a day on the property when ho valued ifc. He went with Mr Macpherson, Mr Elder, aud Mr Williams. There might have been three paddocks he did nob go into. He valued the paddocks by figuring out what ho could take out of them. lie could tnlcQ £1 an acre out of tha estate by fattening off sheep and cattle ou 1 ; of the gra^s. To Mr Cbajman : Mi* Macpherson never assisted witness in bin opinion of the values. Duncan M'Laren, farmer and sheepbreeder, 'deposed that he lived five or cix miles this side of Tiniaru. He had had to do with valuing properties in South Canterbury for mortgage advances. He had been occa«ionally at Ardgowan off and on for the past 14 years. He had been farming in New Zealand since 1864 — on the banks of the Sel-vyn, at Ashburton, and at Sb. Andrews — snd he had also been sheepfarmiug iv Scotland before he came to theco'ony. He had before goirg to hit present place been farming a property of 3360 acres very similar in character to Ardgowan, but when that property was sold in 1892 he went to look for another property, and purchated a place of between 6CO and 7CO acres from Mr Aitbur Perry, of Timaru, paying .£l2 an acre for it. He wintall over Ardgowan about six weeks or two months ago — in the middle of winter. Ardgowan was very similar to the properties with which he bad had to do in South Canterbury. It was down land, with clay subsoil. There was a paddock or two near the homestead on Ardgowan quite equal to if not better than the lnnd he was farming now. He would describe Ardgowan as a veiy fair allound farming property, being well watered and sheltered. It was in very good order in« deed, The first thiDg that etcuok him m a

practical mun was the very small quantity thab had bten taken out of the property. It was in a good position for any new man to tako it and woik it. Witneia gave his values of the paddocks in the order in which be was driven round them by Mr Macpheraon. The average was £9 7a p€r acre. He took the estate as a goirg concern and included the buildings in his estimate. Except in tegard to convenience for agricultural purposes he did not take the proximity of the propsrfy to town into consideration, and ho did not consider the special circumstance oLits being worked in connection with Tofcara, neither had he taken into consideration auy Buch circumstance as compulsory taking. He knew the pro} ety purchased by the Government at Pareora. He understood the price paid was £11 12* per acre. Mr Chapman : Suppos'Dg that wan the price, aud taking your valuation at £9 7o for Acdgowan, how do they compare? Witr.esa : I think Ardgowan would be the cheaper piopetty of the two By Sir Eraser : He arrived at his values from what he thought he could nuke out of the p>operty. If he bought Ardgowan ha would expost to make an average of £3000 a year ou'j of it. Donald Bjrrie df posed that he lived at Papakaio, where he had been farming for over 30 yea's. He farmed about 2200 acres there, and was interested in another 950 acres in South Canterbury. The 2200 acres included 950 feres o? freehold aud 1260 acres of leasehold. Ho carried on general farming. Iletuitivated from 500 to 800 seres a year. The bulk of the farm was on the Waitaki Plains, but he had 2QO or 300 acres on the hi'l. His place was two aud a-half miles as the crow flies from Ardgowan, Mr Gilchmt's property coming in between. He had land which was very much poorer than any on Ardgowan, but he had land b1«o wh ; ch was superior to any on Ardgowan. He had often Geeu over Ardgowan — he kntw it well ; but he went over it a mouth ago for a special pu'poee, when be formed an opinion of its value from his own knowledge of the country in the district. Ardgowan was as flt to-day for settlement as when it was in its virgin tt\tc. It had not been punished or exhausted. He thought it was the other way about — that it had been too well nursed. Most of Ardgowau wes, he considered, quite as good for agricultural purposes as any if his least hold laud, and the rest of Ardgowan was as good for shrepfarmiug as any laud he had. He paid within a fraction of 12s per acre at the present time for his leasehold property. He leased it 11 or 12 years ago, when he paid 15s for it. The new lease had run for three or four years. He knew the properties the Government had purchased at Teauerakiand Maertnvhenua. A portion of Ardgotran was very similar to Teamraki ; bub he thought teat, independent cf situation and takiug the condition in which it was for farming, half of Teaneraki was better land than Ardgowan. The additional charges asising out of railage would affect the capital value of Maerewhenua as compared with Ardgowan. He considered it would take as much to put the produce from Maerewhenua on the truck i at Boston's siding as it would take to deliver the produce from Ardgowan iv Oam aru, and there was 5s a ton milage from Borton's siding. He estimated that mads a difference of 53 an acre on what was croppeJ, but not such a great cliff* reuce on wool. There was no property in North Otago which would cut up as well into farms as Ardgowan nrould. Witness stated the acreage value he put on the various paddock 3iv the Ardgowan estate. Ho made the total value, excluding buildiuga, £41,318 15s. He added £900 for building?, and theu made the average value per acre as nearly £10 as possiblo. He did not take Totfnra into consideration ia makiDg his esti-

mate, Dor did he consider compulsory taking. He thought at the values he had given he could make tho proporty pay. By Mr Fraser : Ho thought 5 per cent. was a fair return for a mau to make who invested his money in land. He was sure that Ardgowin would oarry two sheep to the acre for 4000 acres, and leave 1000 acres for oultivatiou. Jamea Garrow, farmer, of Oamaru, deposed that he and hi? *ons had bought land from time to time, from the company. Ho bought 182 acres at £8 an acre in May 1883 For a bit of the Devil's Bridge paddock, which he h\d »iuc9 bought, he was paying 10s 6d per acre for nine or ten years. Ho paid £8 an acre for this land. The licet purchase was tuo roughest pieco of land on the estate. He Lad been on the estate for 12 yeas, and had good opportunities of judging of it? value. The woolshed ptddock he estimate I to bj worth £12 5s per acre; Henderson's 'o:k, £9 7-. 6.1 ; Dcvtl'a Bridge, £8; middle paddeck, £9 8*; B<vampy creek paddoak, £8 10j ; stockyard paddock, £11 ; Oamaru creek paddock, £10 10<; Jones's paddock, £10 ; Lower White Ridges, £8 ; Upper White Ridges, £7 15* ; reserve, £6 15-j ; rawc uobp, £5 15s ; Rough Ridges, £6 ; tunnel, £6 7* 6d ; iluming paddock, £7; wnter race paddock, £8; M'Ma*ter's paddoik, £8; ram piddeck. £14; Tutu Hill, £14 ; Scott's paldock, £13 ; hou>e paddock, £13; plantations, £20; little paddock, £13 ; No. 1 fitud, £12 ; No. 2 stud, £14 ; We^toa, £14. He es-t-nmted the bui'dings, exclusive of the sheep yards, at £950. To Mr Frater : Witness wo.ild not sell his land for £8 an acre. William Niobolron, farmer, who resided near Himpden, depo c-.l 'h%t he knew the Ar-'g^wan estate. He hud gone over it p^ddrck by paddock, and estimated its value as follows :—: — Woolshed paddock, £11 10a p^r acre; No. 3 paddock, £11 lOi ; Devil's By dge, £11 lOi ; midd'e pandosk, £11 10s ; Swampy creek, £9; skekyard, £11 10 i ; Oamaru cr< e!c, £12; JouesV paddock, £9 ; Lowe: Whit j Ridges, £6 10s ; upper do, £6 10-* ; reserve, £7 ; racecourse, £5 ; Rough Ridges, £6 ; tunnel paddock, £8; fluminjj pad.lock, £8; w*ter race, £7 10s; M'M^st-ir's, £7; ram pv!doclr, £13 10s; Tutu Hill, £13; ScuU's paddock, £12; bouge paddock, £12 ; plantation, £25 ; litfc'e paddock, £14 ; No. 1 stud, £14 ; No. 2 do, £14 ; Weston, £12. Hemadetheaveriigovnluation, oithoutthe buildings, £9 G< 9d per acre, the rotal valuation being £39,b41 3s 9J. He did n't know anything to equ*l Ardgowan in the Oamaru diotrict for cutting up into small farms for dairy farming. Jarae3 Robertson Elder, farmer, residing at Maheno, about eight miles from Ardgowan, stated that he farmed 436 acres. He had tome years' experience in valuing land in the Oamaru district, and had valued a very large proportion of the farms in that ditt ict. He had known Ardgowan for many yeirs fairly well, aud he had latterly exsmined it. He found it an excellent all-round farm in a good clean condition, and well wa'ered. He valued the areas ac2ording to the different classes of soil. Some 1800 or 1900 acres he valued at £11 per acre, the volcanic land at from £12 to £15 per acre, and the ridges at from £7 to £17 10s all round. He did not know the exact area of the place, but he thought his estimate would come out at aboub £10 per acre as the average price of the lan 1. ne thought a fair rent for the laud was 12s p r acre. The < state was very well suited for ordinary mixed farming. About 12 months ago he bid £1Q per acre for 170 acres of land in the Oamaru district, but could not get it. The land was not in nearly as good condition as that at Ardgowan. To Mr Newton : Witness thought Ardgowan would carry from two to three sheep per acre all the year round, according to the management, The company would Eavo beeu able to

carry more sheep on tho estate and have got better returns if they had grown whiter feed for the sheep. Thore would undoubtedly bo a loss by the teverance of Ardg .wan fr- tn Totar», but he could not say what tbe loss would be. James Smith, farmer, of Greenfield, stated that he had bten actively engaged in farming in New Zealand si ace 1851. He alno bad con* siderable experience in valuing lands. He^did not know the Oamaru district very w«H, but he was able t> form an opinion of the value of land there by visiting the district. His opinion, however, would not bs so valuable as that of. men HviDg in tbe dis'rict. He viaited Ardgowtm, and thought it was altogether a desirable property. It was admirably suited for subdivision, owing to its being splendidly watered. Ho thought Ardgowan would carry two aud a-balf sheep p?r acr.3 taking it all over, or more if winter f«ed wtre grown. Similar lind iv witness's district would oarry ouo and a-halt to oue and three-quarters sheep per acre. Ho examined the estate paddeck by paddootr, aud valued it at £9 per- acre. His valuation was based upou wh&t could be made out of the estate. He did not take into consideration the fact of Ardgowan being worked in connection with T- t\ni, bit he lnd no doubt thab there wouM be a Io3S by the tcvrianca of the two estate?. WitnesH estimated thifc Ardgowan would yield a p oftt < f about £1915 a year, and ' gave details of hi 3 intimate. By Mr Fraser : Witness thought thttt £9 per acre for Ardgowan wiuld a.lmifc of a fair return being made from the land. Allan H'dky, auctioneer and commission agent, of Oamaru, htated that he had lived 30 yta™ in that district. He had been farming on the Awamoa, li:c*iholme, aud K'irow e-tites. Ho managed the Awamoa eitate for Mr Holmes for three years. Since he had been in business ho and his partner had had land under crop, and had been selling land at auct ; on. He know Ardgowau, wliicli contained soils of different uharae'ers. The bast of the land was gcod for gene al farming. Ardgowan stood the dry statin butker than tho generality of l*nd in tho Orfiiuru district. The estate was in a very good condition, and had been very well treated. The esta'e was very tu'table for cutting up into small areas on account of being so well watered. Tno Awarcoa estate was equally suitable for cutting np. He had gone over the Ardgowan etttte and valued it paddock by paddeck. His vivlua'ioa was aa follows :— WooUhed paddock, £12 ; No 3 paddock, £11 10s ; Henderson's, £9 10i ; Devil* Bridge, £17 10 a; nrddle paddock, £9 ; Swampy creek, £8 ; stockyard paddock, £11 ; Oamam creek, £10 ; Jones's paddock, £10 10j ; Lower White Ridges, £8 ; Upper White Ridges, £7 ; reserve, £7 ; racecourse, £5 -si ; Rough Ridges, £6 ; tunnel paddock, £6 ; Burning paddock, £7 ; water race paddock, £7 ; M 'Master's, £7; ram paddock, £12 ; Tutu Hill, £12 10s ; Scott's paddock, £11 ; house paddock, £11 10i ; plantation, £20 ; little paddock, £11 ; Nos. 1 and 2 shed paddockp, £11 10s each ; Weston, £10 10a. He valued the buildings ati the homestead at £950. His total valuation came to £38,050 for 4250 acres. He had nine acres too muf-h in his estimate. The average per acre, with buildings, wa? £8 19». Ho did net take into conaidc.-ation the sever* anci of Ardgowan frtm To'ara in making liis valuhlion. There was a property 93 ac C 3 adjoining the ram paddock leased for £90 per annum, and 30 acres of tha land was waste land. The proporty had been leased for 10 years. A regerve of 40 acrea alongside the reserve paddock was leased at 12a per acre. At the we.- tern end of Ardgowaa about 350 acres of land wm lea-sed at 17s per acre. Adjoining thai tture wa^ j. property o£ 80 acres leased at 25> per acre. By Mr Erase) : \V«tueis thought that Ard«

gowan could be leased for 9i per acre, and a tenant would make another 9s over and above that. He did not tell hil partner what valuation ha put upon the property, and had not heard bis partner say that ha thought it was worth £7 per acre. The court adjourned at 5.5 p.m. until 10 30 the next morning.