A LARGE ORDER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2126, 7 December 1920, Page 6

A LARGE ORDER.

FREEHOLD OF WELLINGTON. SCOTSMAN'S EXTRAORDINARY CLAIM. [Special to Tho Sun.] WELLINGTON, December 6. William Gordon Low, a Scotsman, has announced that he owns a large part of the city of Wellington, by virtue of a land grant made to his grandfather for services rendered in tho Maori |Wars. Ho estimates the value of his property at £4,000,000, and ho has stated that ho is taking steps to secure jthe recognition of his claim by the New Zealand Government. It seems clear that somebody has been joking with Mr Low—or perhaps IMr Low is a humorist himself. He says that his grandfather came to New Zealand in the "late sixties," fought in the Maori Wars, and was given "a large tract of land," on which Wellington was subsequently built. As a matter of fact, of course, Wellington was laid out in tho early forties, and had become the capital of New Zealand before tho Maori Wars ended. No soldier was given a largo tract of land in or around the city. Official records seem to confirm the statement that Mr Low's grandfather fought in the Maori Wars, but tho piece of land that was the reward of tho service was situated at Tauranga.