THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES ESTATE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2205, 4 June 1896, Page 7

THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL COMPANIES ESTATE.

It will ba seen by reference' to our commercial columns that Meaars Wright, Stephenson, and Co,, wh> are tha m&aagera in tb.9 colony for -the New Zealand Agricultural Company, have reoantly sold, on the company's Waimea estate, no fewer than 16 farms, of a total area of 4451 Acres, the sizes of the farms ranging from 36 to 691 acres The company's lands still embrace some 140,000 ao.-ea, and Messrs Wright, Stepbenson, and Co. now intimate that they are prepared to receive offers for any of the lands in the estate, it having been determined to dispose of the property at fair values rather ihan hold on in the hope of obb&iniug higher prices. The whole of the estate, whioh is famous for it« o&fc-grosving properties, is, it need hardly be said, within ea*y reach of railway communication, and the country is admirably, suited for close settlement. The Agricultural Company has itself had a somewlut chequered career. It was formed in the times when there was a land boom in the colony, »nd at thit tima it acquired the Croydon, Wan'jwood,,, O l apiri, Caroline, Longcidge, Dome, Byre creek, Acdlussa, and Waimen stafionß, all tituated in and around the Waimea Plains. These nine stations contained together something like 160 000 acres of freehold and 100,000 acres of Government leasehold land, and since they have been acquired by the company have been worked as one huga estate, which haa been generally kuown as the Waimea station. For a time all went well, but the company eventually getting into diffiiu'ties, has been in liquidation for some years pas l ;, and although several attempts have been made to sell the estate very little has hitherto been done in the way of realisation, as those interested evidently did not care to face the values at which it was possible to. do business. That a departure from that policy is now to be made is indicated by the announcement made in anotber column by Messra Wright, Stephenson, and Co, <