"Ask and Ye Shall Receive.”

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XIX, Issue 1882, 10 September 1886, Page 2

"Ask and Ye Shall Receive.”

The We llington correspondent of tho Lyttelton Times writes :—" The price paid for the Stark property in Auckland for defence purposes has evi lently encouraged a Wellington laudowuer to put in a claim for an exorbitant sum lot laud taken for similar purposes at Point Gordon where Fort Ballanoe has bean estshs lished. Tbe area taken by the Defence Department is 245 acres of billy country, not particularly noted for its fertility and situated at an inconvenient distance from tha city, for it can only be approached by land by making the circuit of Evan's Bay, while landing by steamer or boat in rough weather is not a thing greatly to be desired, especially as a stiff climb is necessary to rsaeh the locality of tbe fort. Those whom I have enquired of variously estimate the value of the land at from £lO to £35 per acre, but tha owner, Ur James Coutts-Crswford, formerly Resident Magistrates* this City, asks the modest sum of £31,000 for the 345 acres, or a fraos tion over £126 10s per acre. Tbe claim will, of course, have to be dealt with by tbe Com* pen sation Court.”