RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT GREYMOUTH.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1615, 8 October 1873, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT GREYMOUTH.

'■■ Tuesday, October 7. (Before W. H. Revell, Esq., KM.) I Greyniouth Corporation v. D. Girdiwood and Co. — His Worship, in giving {judgment in this ca^e, said it was an i action brought by the Corporation of | Greymouth : for wharfage rates on a load jof timber exported by the defendants; iThe facts of the case were fully admitted, ; but points of law had been raised as to I whether the Corporation was entitled to ■levy the fates. The first was that the regulations under which these are levied !had no effect, as the by-law under which •they had been framed was repealed. I Secondly,, that the wharfage rates are ■only in force under the Greymouth Quays ; Act. And thirdly, that • the goods were 'not shipped . from the wharf. With reIgard to the third, he was of. opinion that ;the point raised was a good one, as the J words of the second clause must mean, i goods shipped from off or lauded upon ! the actuar wharf. He thought the same : clause further strengthened that view iwhen it specified vessels loading, unload- • ing, or refitting at. .or beside the wharf. ■It referred simply to the structure /or : place where goods were landed; or shipped, jit did not include a portion; of the river I—that' portion of : the river where the ' Corppf atioh were entitled to levy their tonnage rates. That point in itself would warrant him in giving judgment for the defendants. But other points had been raised, and he thought it was only right that he should .express an , Opinion upon them. With regard to the regulations not being in force, they had proof ; first of all that the Greymouth Quays Act . required that a schedule of wharfage i rates should be published in the. bfazetto, j but that Act did not give the Corporation any powfer fco frame or to 'make 'by-laws^ to set out a scale of charges. That power was clearly conferred upon them by the Municipal Corporations Act. In that Act their duties were clearly defined. The l§lst section provided for the adoption of the thirteenth schedule of- the Act, or portions of it, and in accordance with 'that section. In this instance the regulations had been gaietted on : the 15th of Aprils 1869, in accordance with by-law number one, which adopted the ( wliole of ffie thirteenth scheduled The regulations made in the third part of the thirteenth schedule were gazetted on the 13th April; 1869, and re.-gazetted in November in .accordance with the provisions of the Greymouth Quays Act. $«it sjnce then the Borough Council had thought it advisable to repeal by-law number one, thereby. repealing .all the regulations that had been made under it, in accord'anae with the ?B^th section of I the Act. In this instance by-law number five was repealed; and they had adopted certaiu parts of the schedule. Thereby] when the by-law was repealed, air the regulations made under it were necessarily repealed also. Therefore these regulations were not now in force. The Greymouth, Quays Act, he held, did not give sufficient powers to ' warrant them in maintainng ' these regulations ; thduigh gazetted under / th'sit' Act. With regard ' to tonnage rates? were in a differehi position. These had been made under a separate by-hwj iti accordi ance with the 186th' s'ectiori, and. were not

affected by the repeal of by-law number one. Judgment for the defendants, with costs. Mr Perkins (who was for the plaintiffs, Mr Newton being for the defendants) said he did not now dispute the judgriient, but he -should- have liked to hay argued that .the regulations, although not applying to this timber, had nothing to do with the thirteenth section, _and were,-, based simply on the Greymouth Quays Act. =' ".. : .:. ' >££•■ ■ ;i -n;-:'. : His Worship differed from Mr Perkins, ; and said he should like to see the point' raised. '<■ ■■■■<'■■'■ : - r ■ ■''■ ■'■■■'' Mr Perkins did not wish any further litigation, but it would require to be raised. V \ There were several other] trifling small debt cases' heard, in which «rders were made, or judgment confessed.