CO129-283 - Acting Governor Major Gen Black - 1898 [5-6] — Page 308

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As however the Military Authorities have re-

fused the offer made of an exchange, that offer now no longer

remains open, and the alternative proposal that a fair valua-

tion of the ground below Bowen Road Hospital should be made

and the sum agreed on credited to the Colony in the land ac-

count with the Imperial Government alone remains to be consi-

dered.

4. This counter proposal may be divided into two

parts, the one relating to the value of the land, and the other

to the manner in which the value of the land shall be enjoyed

hy the Colony.

5. Your Excellency will observe that the total

value to the Colony of the site is, according to Mr.Ormsby,

$56,250,made up of $26,250 premium if sold at public auction

at 15 cents a sq. foot and of $30,000, being the capitalised

value at 25 years' purchase of the Crown Rent estimated at

$300 an acre per annum.

6. I see no reason to find fault with the pre-

mium value, which seems to be reasonably based on the selling

price of adjacent sites in 1896.

As regards the capitalised value of the annual

Crown Rent derived from an auction sale of the site, I think

that it is fair to add this sum to the premium.

It is true that the land is not at present

yielding a return to the Government, but that is due to the

fact that it has been kept back from being auctioned at the

special request of the Military Authorities, and there can be

no