CHINESE IN CHRISTCHURCH.

KEEN INTEREST IN PROPERTY. INQUIRY FOR CITY SHOPS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Chinese speculators are said to be taking a keen interest in the property market in Christchurch at the present time. Many Canterbury land agents report having had inquiries from Chinese desiring to purchase land in the city. From the description of the men it appears that two envoys of a Wellington institution have lately been in Christchurch. "I know nothing whatever about these dealings," said Mr. George Chew Lee, president of the Chinese Nationalists Association in Christchurch, when asked if the local Chinese community had any connection with the dealings. "We in Christchurch have nothing at all to do with the business. Maybe they are people from Wellington who are after tho land, but I don't know anything about that. They might tell you in Wellington what they are doing." Several land agents who were questioned in connection with the matter stated that the Chinese who had visited them were very discriminating, and had turned down some very choice city businesses. In all cases business premises were wanted, and it was pointed out that the demand was always for properties within the town area, where the purchase of the land would run into thousands of pounds. "We had a Chinaman in here only the other day," stated a representative of one firm of land agents. "He wanted to buy a property in the city, and from the way he talked it appeared that he had the money, but he was very hard to please, and we didn't satisfy him." It appears that this same man has been calling in at land agents' offices, sometimes with a partner, for a week or two past. The opinion was expressed by one agent that a syndicate of Chinese speculators was responsible. It is understood that there is only one freehold property owned by Chinese within the city area at the present time. Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 136, 11 June 1925, Page 11