1885 - June - 5

It seemed like there was something suspicious when it happened in 1873.

          Twelve years later, further suspicions, and fingers pointed by the Hamilton Spectator.

          In the early 1870s, the Ontario provincial was looking to set up an institution for the care and treatment of alcoholics in the Hamilton area.

          After an extensive search and response to proposals, land on the top of the escarpment, at the head of the James Street Mountain road was the choice.

          Most of the property involved was owned by the Hon. Issac Buchanan whose home, Auchmar, was located on the east side of the road. The property targeted for the inebriate asylum was on the west side of the road.

          Mr. Buchanan was a former provincial politician of considerable fame. In recent years, he had suffered serious business losses so the sale of some of his real estate assets was welcome for him.

          A prominent real estate firm, Moore & Davis, was involved in the deal. In the published provincial accounts relating to the $22,000 plus transaction read as follows :

          Issac Buchanan, land ……………………. $14,863.66

          Moore & Davis, land ……………………….    6,936.34

          Mrs. Gourley, land ……………………………    600.00

          Twelve years later, the inebriate asylum had become the Hamilton Asylum for the Insane. It was by then a huge facility, with so many inmates living there that more land was needed, especially as a farm was planned for the site to help with the food needs. A farm owned by a man named Andrews, south of the original asylum property was purchased

The Spectator, on June 15, 1885, published an editorial terming the land transaction a “swindle”

“The facts respecting the purchase of land for the use of the Ontario asylum near Hamilton are very simple.

“1. The asylum officials reported that more land was needed. The government looked into the matter and approved of the proposition to buy the land.

2. Messrs. Moore & Davis may be regarded as the financial agents of the Reform party in Hamilton.

3. Messrs. Moore & Davis learned that the Ontario government had resolved to buy land for the use of the asylum. They entered into negotiations for the purchase of the Andrews farm, and also of the Muirhead farm. Andrews wanted $150 an acre for his land; did not care who bought it; sold it to Moore & Davis for $150 an acre, and considered that he had got a good price.

4. He did get a good price. Anybody who desires may buy land in the immediate neighbourhood for less money.

5. Moore & Davis bought the Andrews farm because they knew they could resell it to the government.

6. The government paid them at least $50 an acre more than the land was worth. Andrews was under no compulsion to sell – was not forced to make a sacrifice; and his estimate of the value of his farm fixes the outside price the government should have paid for it.

7. The people of Ontario have been wronged in this transaction to the extent of $4,600.

8. That money has gone into the possession of Messrs. Moore & Davis. Whether it is to be retained by them; whether it is to be used for campaign purposes; or whether it is to recoup them for special advances during the campaign of 1883, we cannot say.”¹

¹ “The Asylum Land Swindle” Hamilton Spectator and Tribune. June 15, 1885

The next day, a second editorial on the matter appeared in the Spectator questioning the involvement of the Moore & Davis firm in the purchase of the lands for the 1873 purchase of lands:

          “It is well known that Moore & Davis had not owned any property. We are not sure whether they bought some on the understanding that it was to be re-transferred to the government at an enhanced price, or whether the $6,936 was paid them simply as agents for the transfer of property.

          “At all events, the government had decided  to purchase the property, and Messrs. Moore & Davis, as political agents in Hamilton for the Ontario government, were given a large sum of money, which wrongfully came out of the pockets of the people – money over and above the actual price which the owners received for the land.”²

² “The Asylum Land Purchase”  Hamilton Spectator and Tribune. June 15, 1885

          The editorial went on to claim, quite bluntly, that there was political intrigue, if not worse, involved in the relationship between the provincial government and the particular real estate firm in question:

          “We always knew that the Reformers had plenty of money for use in the election of 1874. Messrs. Moore & Davis were paid in $5,000 at that time. Perhaps we shall be told that the money was merely an advance. Well that is just what we understand it to have been. We do not suppose for a moment that Messrs. Moore & Davis remained permanent losers of the sum. The records show conclusively that the Ontario government has paid those gentlemen sums equal to all the advances known to have been made by them in the elections of 1874 and 1883.” ²

                The editorial pulled no punches in its closing statement :

          “The people of Hamilton pretty well understand the nature of these transactions by this time. The substance of the whole matter is that –

1.   Messrs. Moore & Davis advance money for political purposes.

2.   The Ontario government buys property through Messrs. Moore & Davis in such a way that those gentlemen that those gentlemen get their money back.

3.   The people pay the money.”¹