TE ARAI ESTATE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2225, 31 October 1907, Page 1

TE ARAI ESTATE.

COMPENSATION COURT PROCEEDINGS. OWNER’S CASE COMPLETED. EVIDENCE FOR THE CROWN. Tho ]i ear in a of tho Hon. Randal Johnston’s claim for .compensation in respect of tho To Ami estate, was continued at tho Compensation Court yesterdiav morning. MR CLARK CROSS-EXAMINED. Mr Eindla.v cross-examined Air. John Clark who gave his evidence on tho previous evening. Air. Clark said ho had property at Papatu consisting of 5000 acres, partly freehold and partly leasehold. Ho also held at Opou, -1000 acres, tho greator part, of which was leasehold. In Opou thero were 3000 acres of flats. On February Ist last ho took possession of AVnipaoa, 31,000 acres. Those properties carried about 47,000 sheep and about 2400 cattle. Had used Lincolns at Opou apd thought they would do well at To Arai, hut they did not. There was a heavy death rate at To Arai before his time and after ho took tho phico over. Tho placo did not. pay for tiho first year, but ho thought it paid iu tho second year. Cattle we.ro dearer about- tho timo ho took Te Arai than they had been since. Could not say when ho started freezing. Had a small stud of superior cattle. Hiad kept no separate books for his three prox>erties, until *a few years ago. Air Findlay was proceeding to ask Air Clark various questions concerning accounts, when His Honor said that the ovidenco at that point liad very slight relevancy—it would bo fitter in Air. Clark’s own case. Further ho contended that it was unwise to make the profit of tho occupier a basis for valuing land —tho profit made was entirely a matter of personal equation. ■Continuing, Air Clark said that if left in possession of To Arai ho would increase his sheep to '5,090 .and the entitle to something over 3000. Was convinced the estate could carry the stock. His Honor said that in the south this number of stock was considered very great. ■Air Clark said that perhaps ibero was no property in the colony which could bo compared to To Vrai. Ho was not really increasing tho carrying capacity—-it was only that Romneys could he run closer than .L-n----coins. Started to introduce Romneys Inst season. Could get considerable advantage from this bofore ■tihe end of his lease. Negotiations •for sale to the Government were started in 1905. Could not state tho area of swamp which oh the previous evening he had said - was carrying 1-50 cattle and 300 sheep. Had a partnership interst in Alangapoiko. Paid £135,000 for \A aipaoa-, including 30,000 sheep and 1400 cattle, which lie thought w»-re valued at £23,000. There weio between ten iand twelve thousand acres of undeveloped bush country on Waipaoia. Re-examined: Had refused an offer for tho property at an advance. Tilio owners of the property sold because some of tho partners wish id to realise.

By Air Findlay: The sale of Waipaoa was not advertised. AIR JOHNSTON’S LAST WITNESS Chns. H. D. Ev.ans, accountant for Alessrs Dalgoty and Coy, caul ho had lived with his lather on Tc Arai for some time, before Air Clark took it over. Some of tho land was subject to river flooding. In 'his opinion the flats were not cold. Lambing was done on all tho flats with a few exceptions. About a thousand acres had been cropped. For six years tho average cost of maintaining drains aiad putting in now ones was £ll9 a year. By Air Findlay: Thero were 30 miles of drains and 60 miles of fencing. A good number of men were necessary to keep the drains ill order. Tho small average cost was explained by tho fact that the big drains wore made before the years he struck his ’-average. The backing up of drains and flooding of certain parts happened very seldom. The 'estate then carried 24,000 slieep. WITNESS RECALLED. J. B. Kells,, re-called, explained that in his valuation he had made a mistake as far as tli_e blocks were concerned. Ho had included some land in a wrong block, but ho did not wish to alter tlio price nut on PROPOSED AAIENDAIENT. -Air Chapman asked that his motion to amend his claim should be decided at this point. ■ _ Hi” Honor said be had looked into Tho matter, but could find, uo authority for amendments. ■ ■ ' OPENING FOR THE CROWN. Air Findlay at 11.10 a.m. opened ■the ease, for tho Crown- He forecasted the trend of tho evidence ho intended to call, and stated that he had arranged . with Air Slierrett that possession ypf the propertyshould be given on Alarch 30th next.

,His Honor said it-, was necessary to know this so that the court could exactly compute interest etc. ' DISTRICT LAND OFFICER, Thomas N. Brodrick, District 'TVuul Officer and Surveyor, said he had been concerned in cutting up about 23 blocks for settlement under, tha. Land ,p'f Settlements Act, Had been concerned in cutting uu Flaxbouriie. First visited Te Arai in April of this year and frequently since.. Valued the whole property at' £103,728, an average of £9'l2s sd. Tlio average for the flat land was. £lB Is 6d (or with buildings £lB 1 Os) -and for hills £6 Bs. The correct area of the estate was 10,773 acres. On the river there was a high bank, and below a good deal of silt and river rubbish. It was ridiculous to value this at £lO. He valued it at £l. In No 1 Block there were I t acres of l.ind grown with rushes. He valued the block at £lO 17s 2d an acre. Part of the block was a -manuka .spur which was in its native state and which lie valued at £O. In Block 2 there were 21 acres of rau-po, which he valued at £2. A piece of stump land in the block lie valued at £lB. The land in Block 2 on the north side of the road was in a very wet state, and would he very hard to drain. He valued it at £l6 per aero. It would take. £7 an acre to clear and drain it. Block i was all good except a little waste land on the three acres of swamp which he had valued at £l. The rest of the block he valued at £25. (Block 3 he valued at £l9. The land under the hills south of the road was very wet and there was scattered bush, and lie valued it at £lO. There were about 10 acres of white pine busli in Block 5. but there was not much good timber in it. This ' lie valued at

£IG. Tlioro was a swamp of thirteen acres which seemed incapable of drainago, which ho valued at £2, bcc.auso cattle would poke about among it to a certain extent. There were a good many parts wlioro no attempt at cultivation had been inado, and thero was also a good amount of not land. 'Tlio majority of tho block got very soaked in wot weather. Water was kept iu the land because of tho tido in tho big r.ivor. Tho whole of Block 6 he valued at £2O. The lagoon anno up to it on ono sido and perhaps the big river sometimes oamo over it, hut it was a good paddock. He looked upon Block 7 as almost worthless. Tliero was a certain amount of grass in tho swamp. Ho valued the vvholo at £1 16s 3d per aero. In Block 8 ho valued tho grass laud at £lB. Block 9 ho valued at £25. In Block A thero were about 300 acres of manuka scrub. Ho valued tho wliolo at £7. Block B lie valued at £8 10s. There was a big porcentago of native grasses on ail tho hills. Tho only places j\ her. English grasses were found were on tho fringes of tho flats, and- where hush land had boon felled. Block C ho valued at £6 10s. Tho grass was ohiofly native. Block D was scrubby Lind and. b‘i valu’d it at £5 15s. Block E lie valued at £5. 10s. Blocks F and G were mainly nativo grasses and lie vaiued them at £5. Ho valued Block H at £5 and I at £5 15s. The lower pait of K was fairly iioor, hut there wore •a ■ number of patches of English grasses. Ho valued it at £5 10s. Tharo was much short manuka on ■tho bills generally indicating poor land. Tho fences wero in bad order. Thero wore generady seven black wires with white pine di\.ppors and inferior posts. On a recent visit saw cattle on all . arts of tho estate. Soino on Block 6 seemed to bo not too well, but lie could not say how tho young stock were. His total value of the es” ito was £103,728. Working on figures for tho past six years he found that tho estate was carrying equal to 25,277 slice)). Ho had calculated that £3 10s per sheep per acre was a fair thing to pay and this ma le the value of To Arai £88,469 Tho difference between this and the other value ho had prepared was accounted for by the position cf the estate. Witness quoted a ’ umber of recent sales of land, showing tho price per aero per sliep paid. By All- Chapman: In his valuation took no account of what could bo taken out of tho land. Tho price of land had gone up during tho past year, many sales having been made at big advances. The Pabowhai estate, sold about tlnee years ago, would now bring more than it then did. Thought the Waipaoa estate was--bought at a lowprice. Holden, pa id £4O for his land because ho wanted it for a resting-'piice for stock, "'lie wetland in Blocks 2 and 3 would need a drain right along it. H would bo very hard to kee-p the drain _opeu. Block D was placed at £5 15s because the land was vory rough and there was a good deal of scattered scrub and manuka. Considered limiself competent to make an estimate of tile carrying capacity < f land. Had been told that Kanackanao carried two and a half sheep per ai re. For tho past live years Pakowhen had carried ail average of 8344 sheep. Did not know (tint 'Air Black had had to spend a great deal of money to keep down briar. Had heard that tho river had to bo crossed twenty-six times on tho way to AVaipaoa. Had never heard that Captain Tucker got £2 per .aero rent for Alakauri flats. Thought it was a Very ‘higb.\reiut. There was very little difference between tho best -T.e Arai flats and tiho Aliakauri flats. Re-examined: For the position of tho To Arai land had allowed 10s per sheep per acre. A AVAIKATO VALUER.

John -McCall, farmer, Matamat-a, stated tlmit for some years he had been managing the Estates Coyls estates in Auckland and Poverty Bay and had frequently visited Poverty Bay. Had been a land valuer in many compensation eases. 11l July lust spent four days on the estate, and had visited it once since. The last witness had given an excellent description of the run, but was a ■little low ; u soane valuations, not enough having been allowed for riverbed. Block 1 he valued at £l6. The riverbed in Block 2 lie valued at £2 10s and the old riverbed ait £9. Broken land he valued at £4 10s, grass land at £2O, flats at £22, and bush at £ls. The average prico for Block 3 was £lB and for Block 4 £23. There were buildings worth £1065 on Block 4. Block 5 ho valued at £l7. Block 7 was wet and the average price was £ll 17s, and the price for Block 9 £25. There were no buildings on the hills except stock-yards on H. The value of the hills was made up on a sheep -basis. Estimated could carry ldsheep to the acre on the whole of the hills. If ho had the estate would run 'u- certain amount of cattle, as there were places where sheep could not graze. Did not see any lulls without nativo grass. Blocks A. B. and C were the best land and had the least native grass. These blocks might carry Id sheep all the year round. Went on a basis of £4 10s per sheep per .acre in assessing the valuo of Te Arai. Thought the estate could carry o qnal to 21,000 sheep. It would be risky to carry more. A great amount of the hills ''would go dry in dry seasons. By Mr Chapman : Among other estates which ho managed between 1892 and 1894 were Papa-til and Pakowliai. -Could hardly say that tlio land sliowed signs of being overstocked. Had not enough local knowledge to enable him to pack a 10,000 aero block which he would prefer to To Arai. ANOTHER NORTHERN EXPERT. William -G-arrett, land valuer, Auckland said he had previously been farming on his own account. Visited To Arai in July and valued the property as a whole. During his visit saw Block 5 under water. Valued Block 1 at- £l6. The whole of the buildings lie valued a-t £lllO. Saw some hoggets on the estate in poo-r condition though tlio older sheep seemed better. The cattlo also looked none too well. Would incline to think the estate over-stock-ed. "Thought emial to 21,000 head of sheep was the capacity of the estate. By Mr Chapman: Went over the land with Messrs McCall and Roddick. D-id not value with Mr Me Call. Did not know that his average prices for flats and hills were identical- with Mr. McCall’s. The manager’s house had eight rooms, and was very nearly tumbling down. Valued it now at £2OO. The cost of the house new would be abou-t £550. Had himself fanned in the Bav of Plenty district. Soane of the

land thero was richer than Povorty Bay land. A SURVEYOR’S EVIDENCE. John Roddick, Government Surveyor, said ho had been resident in Gisborne for about eleven years. Had owned land but had done no fanning. Had been on tho eastern part of To Arai from May ’to car in the present month. Tho best flats were in Blocks 4, 5 and 6. Had seen land in Block 5 under water ip to ono’®. knees. Another part of the block ho had seen under waiter for live. days. About fifty acres of grassseed failed to germinato in the block last year, owing to the water backed ii)). In other places tho land was wot and overgrown with rushes. It was some of the best land in tho block that was subject to backed-up water. Block 6 was ono of tho best pieces on the estate for summer feeding, but.it would bo dangerous to keep stock on it in tho winter. Had seen water from tho lagoon on tho block. Block 7 also was or useful for summer feeding. Tho most of Block 8 was in its native state. In summer tho flats ho hid dealt with were hard and dry. Any of tho land ho had seen which had boon ploughed was foul with dock, fatlien and other weeds. Tlio fences ho knew wore generally poor, though there were some very good sections:' Tlio.ro was some perennial rye-grass in blocks 7 and 8. Blocks B and II wore tli'o best ho had seen. In H tlio land on tho spurs was very poor. Knew />f no property in Poverty Bay carrying so much native grass. Tlio flat land had all been fenced off from tlio hills—otherwise tlio stock could not bavo been kept on tho 'hills. Tho hills got vory dry an summer. From what ho saw came to tho conclusion that thero was a hi. owe flock.

By All- Chapman: Had a Sum of his own of about 500 acres. The flats of Te Ala i were good but were over-rated. AVould not be anxious to take the hills at £5. He w-as engaged in cutting up tlio property for disposal by the Government. In Block 4 there wero sites for a dairy factory, with severed acre sections for residences and the rest of the block was cut into email dairy f.anms, hill land being also given in somo eases. Bits of hill land liad to be given in Block 5 because there were no safe sites for residences on the flats. Tho average size of the sections Was about 300 acres.

Re-examined: No part of the Te Aral flats could ho compared to flats at Opou. Cut up Paparae, and Te Arai was noHequal to those flats. GOVEENAIENT VALUER IN THE BOX.

Cecil Francis Lewis, Government Valuer, said ho had been in Gisborno for about 28 years. He stated that when first valuing To Arai in Alarch, 1906, ho over-estimated the amount of flats, but- had corrected the area. Had seen Te Arai in a'll seasons of the year. Ho valued the buildings at £1375. Considered £103,754 a fair selling value for the whole property. Generally supported the evidence of Alessrs. Brodrick and Roddick, though he thought they rather underestimated the flats. A block of 1750 acres, two miles from the boundary of Te Arai, was recently sold at a price near £7 15s, and 3042 acres at AYihatatutu were sold at £7. Witness also quoted a number of other eases. The Alakauri flats were far better than tho Arad flats. Knew for a fact that the rents at Alakauri were mostly 30s. Holden’s was good land, with a nico fall. It was as good as the best Arai flats. In 1906, 32 acres near Alakaraka woro sold by Broeklebank to Kent for £I4OO, the buildings being valued at £l2 pel-, acre. Tliero was no land in Te Arai equal to the Bushmero flats, which gave as good crops as were got in tho district. In February, 1905, 20 acres of Bushmero flats wero sold at nearly £3O. By Air. Chapman: The Buslimere section in question would no doubt bo sold now at a good advance to persons with land far back. Valued a property at Aroka at £28,000, which was sold eighteen months afterwards at £36,000. In the interim 400 acres were improved by foiling and grassing at a cost of, say, £9OO. Did not allow himself to ho hound by prices paid when he was valuing. AIR, G. GRANT.

George Grant, surveyor, said lie had lived in Gisborne for the past 25 years, -and had had much to do ■with valuing lands in Poverty Bay. Went over Te Ami for the purposes of valuation about a year ago, and was familiar with the block. In the hills there was a preponderance of native grass. .Messrs. Roddick and Brodrick gave a very good description. of the property. .His valuation of the whole property gave an average value of £9 per acre. The estate could carry 23,000 sheep. Roughly, two-slieep country could be .got in positions like To Arai for £8 to £8 ss. Went over Waipaoa in Christmas of last year. The area was 33,400 acres, about 15,700 acres being in hush, some practically unexplored. Valued the land at £134,800.

By Mr. Chapman: Did a good deal of valuing for mortgagees. _ Valued Bolton’s land at Makauri at £42 without buildings. The best ft its at Te Arai ho only valued at £27. Valued the Triangle at £4l. and it was sold at £45. It was possible that a section had been valued at £37 10s and sold at £45. Valued Iviwi about five years ago at 15s. and knew some of the land was sold at £5 ss. Re-examined: Could not swear to bis valuation at Kiwi. It would be hard to borrow a. large sum of money on tho Triangle sections, so that the offer of terms was a great advantage. These sections were thought suitable for carters and drovers. •The Court then adjourned until 10 a.m.. this morning.