Cardrona Valley historian Tim Scurr has been angered by the
appearance of a fence around unclaimed land opposite the
Cardrona Hotel. Photo by Matthew Haggart.
The war of the fences has resumed in the Cardrona Valley.
A month after the Queenstown Lakes District Council relocated
a fence erected near the Cardrona Hotel by Andre Prassinos,
another fence has appeared close by.
Mr Prassinos, who is living near Christchurch, but is a lakes
area landowner and ratepayer, yesterday confirmed to the
Otago Daily Times he was responsible for the new fence being
placed around unclaimed land opposite the Cardrona Hotel.
While council workers had moved the earlier fence on June 20,
council CEO Duncan Field yesterday said it would not be
removing the new fence.
The reason the old fence was dismantled was because it
affected car parking at the hotel and the busy winter visitor
season was then approaching.
Mr Field said he struggled to understand what outcome there
was for Mr Prassinos.
The council had applied to the New Zealand Public Trust and
it would become custodian of the unclaimed land in lieu of
the departed owner.
Mr Prassinos said he was within his rights to put up the
fences around the unclaimed land.
"Dozens, if not hundreds, of people around the country are
doing it."
The land at the centre of the row was abandoned by Chinese
gold-miners, who fled the area after the collapse of the
Cardrona alluvial gold-mining boom in the late 19th Century.
To officially claim the land as his own under the District
land Registrar's "adverse possession" rule, Mr Prassinos has
to pay rates and show he has made substantial improvements to
the land - for the next 20 years.
Mr Prassinos said he had contacted the Chinese Embassy to try
to find the land's rightful owners.
"I don't trust the council to come in and administer the land
in an appropriate way," he said.
Cardrona Valley historian Tim Scurr said he had noticed the
latest fence was built last weekend and said its reappearance
had "made his blood boil".
"He [Mr Prassinos] is an upstart who just thinks he can come
in here and start claiming land willy-nilly. It's totally
against what the [Cardrona] community wants," he said.
Mr Scurr's brother John, chairman of the Cardrona Valley
Resident and Ratepayers Association said the council was
approached to help administer unclaimed land pockets in the
valley.
The council agreed to help manage the land and ensure any
benefits would be applied to the community.
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