LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1678, 19 February 1913, Page 5

LAW REPORTS.

• : SUPREME COURT. (Before his Honour Mr.■ Justice Chapman.) OWNERS OF THE TROCADERO, THEIR LIGHTING. ■PAY SEPARATE RATE OR NOT? ,% .'. An action, described by Sir John Findlay as of wide-reaching importance*, eam« on for hearing in the Supreme Court yesterday before Mr. Justice Chapman. It was brought as a test case, and; on account, of the nature of the questions involved, it had , been removed from the Magistrate's- Court to the' Supreme Court for, argument. ' . The plaintiffs were the Mayor, Councillors, and Citizens of Wellington. .The defendants were Hamilton Gilmer, M.L.C., of 188 The/Terrace, Wellington; Allen Maguire, 6ettler, of Dufterin '. Street, Wellington; John O'Kane, clerk, of Wellington; Charles Perrin Skerrett. K.C., of Wellington; and.Mary Ann M'Ardle, settler, oi' Wellington. ' The City Solicitor (Mr. J. O'Shea)' appeared for the City' Council, while Sir John Findlay,' K.C., with him Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, appeared for the defendants., .' In the'statement of claim it was .set out that the.-defendants (Hamilton Gilmer and others) are the owners of "property (the TrocaderoPrivate Hotel), in Wellington, on which the sum of £Z0 13s. lOd. is. due for: electricity supplied , for lighting, heat/ and power.'.'Pursuant to the provisions of tho Rating Act, 1908, the. City Cbunoil, on Juno 1, 1912, made demands for this amount, which,, it was alleged, is recoverable as a separato rate. The demands were not complied'with, and tho .council therefore sought judgment for the sum of .£3O 13s. lOd. ' ,'•' The right of the City Council; to recover tho amount as a separate rate was disputed. ... ','■■' At" the' outset, Sir John;Findlay' announced, that it had. been arranged, as being the more convenient course to adopt, that the defendants should open ' , , ; "His Honour: Is it a trial on facts, or are the facts common ground? ' : ';■ Sir John Findlay replied that tho facts' were- common ground. • The main question . that, the Court would have to decide was: 19.a municipal corporation, which owns or controls a gas or electric light supply,, entitled to recover (under .the Rating Act) .from'a landlord, as a separ-. ate rate,: the price'of the gas or electrical energy consumed by'his tenant for light, heat, or. power, when the tenant has failed'to pay?' .;■'•■ . Argument extended into the afternoon. His Honour intimated- that 'he would take time to consider-the matter,