21

H.—7

Mr. Macdonald: If there was .proper access I imagine that portion would be worth £200 an acre. 263. Mr. Baker.] Did you value the land on the north or south ?—No. 264. Mr. Macdonald.] Do you know the value of it ?—No. Further down it is valued at £5 an acre. Mr. Potter was the valuer of that. 265. Mr. Baker.] What is the value of these Sections 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9?—Section 9 is worth £125 ; it is close to the road. 266. Do you put any value on 5, 3, or 1 ?—No ; none as to those. Mr. Baker : I just want to get a general idea of the land. 267. Mr. Kirk.] How do you make up the value of Section 7?—I have not got the details here. 268. What is the size of it ? How much a foot is it worth ? Is it as valuable as any land a little further up ?—I do not think it is ;it is very broken. 269. You do not think it is as valuable as Sections 1 and 3 ?—No ; Sections 1 and 3 have double frontages ; that is the particular thing that makes it difficult to arrive at a conclusion as to where the road should go. 270. Is the land of any more or less value than it was three or four years ago ?—The position is different now. Three years ago it was all one block; now it is cut into small areas, making it less valuable. 271. Supposing you were making a valuation of the 36 acres, what would have been the value ?—I have given it. The land is of no more value now than at that time. 272. Mr. Macdonald.] Then, subdivided, it is of less value than taking the whole block having frontages to the main road?—Now it has no frontage to the main road. Mr. Kirk : I want to point out that three years ago it was valued at £3,600. Now Mr. Miller values it at £50 an acre. 273. Mr. Kirk.] As to the valuations of Sections 4 and s—the5—the valuations made—were they materially different in price ?—I do not think so. 274. You' modify your statement now ?—I may say'; roughly, in round figures, as far as I recollect, the whole block was practically the same rate per acre ; but if the Commissioners ask me specially, then I say, taking the block as a whole—that is, the average—you get more good land in Section 4. 275. Suppose the range was shut up at anytime?— Well, of course, the trouble is the gully [referring to plan] —this road goes round here—the top of the gully—and could be extended to give special access to portions of Blocks 6 and 1. Then there would be a number of good buildingsites obtainable.

Tuesday, 10th May, 1892. John Duncan, Lieutenant commanding Navals, examined. 276. The Chairman.] You are in a position to give the Commission information as to the suitability of the present site, I suppose ?—Well, I am not a shooting-man myself, and therefore anything I can say on the subject is merely derived from information I have gathered as commanding a company. 277. But you are in a position to judge as to the suitability of the present site for the object ? —I suppose partly so, as a non-shooting man. 278. What is your opinion as to the suitability of the site on the whole ?—I think it has only one recommendation—namely, that it is not very far out of town. 279. What are its objections ?—lt is something like shooting up a funnel. The wind at different times affects the shooting in such a way that when the men get out into the open, and when they have to shoot away from a funnel, they are quite at sea many of them. The result has been that, for years past, an effort has been always made to get the senior shots—the record men—opportunities to fire away from this range. Hence an arrangement was entered into with Mr. Crawford, under which all the first-class shots could fire their matches at Evans Bay. 280. What is the distance to Evans Bay ?—I suppose it is about a mile from the tram-ter-minus, or a mile and a quarter. 281. Is the range safe for shooting?—That I am not sufficiently an expert to say. 282. Have you had any objections to its use from any of the residents in the neighbourhood?— No, I have not heard of any. 283. You do not think it is necessary for the Government to purchase more land than has been purchased, in order to secure the use of the range without objection on the part of adjoining owners?—l do not know. Ido not know the extent of land now held by the Government. 284. Mr. Baker.] Do you consider the range valuable as a training-ground for young Volunteers in the first instance, being so close to the town ?—lt would be from its proximity to the town, but it must be a bad training-ground when they are able to get away into the open. 285. Mr. Macdonald.] So far as you are aware, Captain Duncan, what is the general feeling of the Volunteer Force with respect to the range ? Is it a site that they appreciate, and have been anxious to obtain, or one which they would rather not see purchased ?—I do not know that I have ever discussed the matter. I was excessively sorry to hear that the Polhill Gully range had been bought, because we were negotiating at the time to secure a better tenure of the Evans Bay range. 286. Then, you do not think the purchase is one to commend itself to the Volunteer Force ?—I would not like to speak for the Force, because I have not consulted them ; but I may state it would not recommend itself to mo. 287. Were the men firing in the matches at Evans Bay all senior shots, and did they always fire at Evans Bay ?—They were obliged to go through their class-firing at Polhill Gully, and the