A LAND TRANSACTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2217, 15 June 1908, Page 3

A LAND TRANSACTION.

SOME PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES. GOVERNMENT B A Vi 3 A HIGH BRlCE(Special to “Times”) WELLINGTON, June 14. A Supreme Court caso, Leigh v. Strand, that iliae. engaged- the attention of Judge and jury for some days has attracted more than ordinary interest. There was a good deal of talk about the transaction at the time. The evidence in the case showed that in 1903 a block of land jin the Hutt Valley, at a place known as Nainai, was -bought hy some private individuals for £IO,OOO, and in the year 1905 sold .to the Government for £21,000. The Government bought the land to sub-divide it into sections for workers’ homes. As the land is situated three miles from the Hutt railway station, and is of poor quality and swampy, it is quite -unfitted for this purpose. .Indeed, so unsuitable was the land for the purpose for which it was acquired that even now, in 1908, after a good deal of money ■has been spent an draining it, it is still used for grazing purposes. It is suggested that the present Government should institute an inquiry into the circumstinces connected with such a disastrous bargain, and publish all the -facts during the coming session.