LEASE PROPOSITION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 68, Issue 5942, 12 May 1944, Page 3

LEASE PROPOSITION

CONSENT OF LAND SALES COMMITTEE SOUGHT ‘ IP ■ BASIC RENTAL FIXED An unusual case occupied the attention of the Land Sales Committee at Te Awamutu yesterday afternoon when I. L. Wilson sought the consent of the Committee to lease a dairy farm to his sharemilker, E. W. Wrattan. Messrs N. A. Ching (chairman), H. 0. Mellsop, J. J. Shallue, and Mr J. B. Rowe, Crown representative, comprised the Committee. S- Preston, instructed by Mr J. M. Horton, of Hamilton, appeared for the applicant. Mr Preston said the farm of 110 acres was situated at Ngaroto. Wrattan had been sharemilking for five years past for Wilson, who was in the Air Force, and who expected to be absent from his farm for the duration of the war. By converting the sharemilking agreement to a lease meant more security for Wilson. The basis of rental was 5 per cent of the rental values, but for dairy properties close to centres people paid more than 5 per cent. Some people did not have enough capital to buy a farm, but preferred a lease to sharemilking. They had the money to stock up. £260 rent was the sum asked for in the present case.

The chairman, Mr Ching, referred to the severe conditions of the lease, but Mr Preston said all leases were on the same basis. H. T. Saunders, a land agent and valuer with farming experience, submitted a valuation and budget. He said they never got a property to lease, though they were inundated with inquiries for leases. Mr McKenzie, a Crown valuer, considered that 50 cows at 2401 b fat was the maximum capacity of the farmThe productive value of the farm was £3644, and the basic value was £3182. Wrattan’s work was better than he had even seen a sharemilker do. He considered the rental asked was £lOO too much, in view of the outgoings which Wrattan would be called on to pay. No lease was ever based on 5 per cent, it was usually 7 to 10 per cent.

In reply to Mr Preston witness said he did not try to tie production to the lease. He felt that Wrattan had committed himself to something more than he would have got on a 50-50 share basis. The Committee fixed the basic rent at £lBO per annum.