Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-23

number of experts had been consulted
ana the assessors had visited mills III
Lewiston. Augusta, Auburn and other
places.
They had later decided that the cor
rect valuation was the one they had
placed on the property. He said that he
was not sufficiently familiar with wat
er power to be able to express any sat
isfdctory opinion of the relative val
ues Of the water privileges OF the city
Mr.. Johnson examined the witness in
the interests of the Lockwood Co, tn.
trend of his questioning being seeming
~ to establish that the assessors had
und"rValued many pieces of property
at the expense of the company. Mr..
Morsc'S evidence seemed to show. how
ever, that in many cases too high Il val
uation mad been placed on property.
Considerable time was spent in testing
the knowledge ,of the witness as to the
NaIua of the principal buildings of the
city, On which he had helped to make
the assessment. The witness was asked
about a large number of specific in
stances in which valuation had been
fixed by the board of assessors and
asked how the results had been
reached.
Mr.. Morse thought the Sopcr block
and the land on which it is built
worth perhaps 10 or L. per cent, more
than what it is taxed for and the Gil
man property l. or 20 ner cent. more.
He did not believe $4,000 fair cash
value for the Gilman property since
the Lockwood matter was agitatcd. He
had never stated that he thought this
would he Il proper valuation.
1.-THE board of assessors is consider
ing whether or not it would not be best
70 arrraise the property at this figure.
is it not:''
I'VE arc considering n great min,'
things which have no particular force
at this time AMI which am moi at lib
Crty tn m"ntion as having any bearing.
What we are considering may hc quite
different from what we intend to dn
when the time comes"
NJ. Brown-"I object tn this quoa-
ticn. a% what the board of assessors
intend 10 do this wear has no hclrjn.r
on what they did Il year ago, or their
reasons for doing So
Mr.. HasaVtt-"I do net think H.. needs
" 'iu'fN'F lnIS question.
Mr.. Johnson-"Hiv Won ncvcr made
the statement that the Gilman proper
ty was 10 be valued at $4,000 at this
years assessment"
A-"No. sir
C-"Did YOU find ont what Mr. Soper
gave fer the Phoenix block which he
has purchased lntclv?"
Ar believe he paid at the rate Or
$o45 q front foot"
eff yCr learned that tho bio, X
sod for $4,000 would YOU change vour
opinion as to its proper valuation?"
-"Possihly"
hIr. Morse was askc,i similar cues
tfcn; about the Park Hotel block re-
Gently purchased by G. II. Dci-ithy Of
l'ost:n and also az to the building re-
Gently purchased by himself from Hor-
ace Perkins for $4,000. He knew moth
ing of tho first transaction except what
ne had heard. AS to the property he
had purchased, which is assessed at
$4,000. he had paid the price mentioned
because he wanted part Of the land
whicn went With the house for his own
private purposes and the remainder
had been for sale ever since the time he
had purchased it.
This evidence was followed by a dis
cusSion of the values of other pieces
Of resdencinl property. Including that
Of f. =. Brown. valued a; $4,000: c. X.
Matthews, $1,000: the late w. 3. Ar
nOli. valued at $iC00 ana thc residence
rf GcorG" Fred Terry on Silver. Mr.
Morse was not prepared to place a val
uatiop on it off hand but finally csti-
mated it to be worth between $4,000 and
$4,000.
The hearing W2S rcSUmcd at 2 o'clock.
NJ. Morse WAS still on the stand I'm
portant properties on Il number of
streets. including Lawrence. Winter.
BurlciSh. Nudd. Pleasant and Main
streets were discussed III much the
same manner as they had beer prcvi-
oGSly by Witnesses George Fred Terry.
Gideon Pitcher. Dana +. Foster. Horace
Perkins ana others. There Wcrn no sub
stantial differences in the estimates.
Tho hearing will be resumed at 10
O'Clock this morning, when the expert
witnesses vino We're to have testified
Saturday will take the stand.