in Southampton for $750,000 from John W. Swan Limited.

They also agreed to sell the freehold interest in a 0.26 acre cottage lot at the same site on Wednesday night.

Minister of Works, Engineering, Parks and Housing C.V. (Jim) Woolridge gave a brief rundown of the history of the property at 30 Lighthouse Hill and stressed it should belong to the Parks Department.

The purchase fit into Government's plan to buy as much open land as possible, he continued.

There was a list of properties ranked in order of priority that the Government wished to buy and this piece of land was on that list, said Mr. Woolridge.

Turning to the cottage, he explained that it would make a nice home and Government had decided to sell it for no less than $250,000.

Shadow Minister of Works, Engineering, Parks and Housing Stanley Morton said he had no qualms about the price Government intended to buy the land for but he asked what its intention was for the land.

He added that he wanted to know if Government had developed a pattern for seeking out and purchasing these lots of land. They were no use to the people who owned them if they could not be developed, he argued.

Minister of the Environment, Planning and Natural Resources J. Irving Pearman said open areas around the Island were prioritised by sites Government wanted to buy and needed to buy.

He said Mr. Morton was suggesting that this was something which had suddenly happened which indicated he was not listening to Mr. Woolridge.

Government had some $1 million to use for acquiring property and had been doing this for some period of time.

Mr. Pearman added the area would be for the public's use.