ELDERLY COUPLE FAIL TO REGAIN POSSESSION OF HOUSE

Grey River Argus, 7 October 1948, Page 2

ELDERLY COUPLE FAIL TO REGAIN POSSESSION OF HOUSE

An elderly couple, who were forced to cycle from Boddytown to Greymouth for supplies, sought possession of. their home at Dobson, before Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Greymouth Police Court yesterday. They were Emily and Robert John Newman (Mr C. R. McGinley), who sought possession of Mrs Newman’s home from the present tenants, Sydney Smith, sawmill worker, and Mona Pauline Smith (Mr W. D. Taylor).

Mr McGinley said the Newmans had let their home for £1 a week to the Smiths. They went to Kaimata during the war to look after their son’s farm, and prior to going arranged with the Smiths to take possession of their home when their son returned. In 1945, when the son was discharged, the Newmans asked the Smiths to vacate, but they refused. Mr McGinley added that his client had offered to buy a house at Wallsend for the Smiths, but Mrs Smith refused to live at Wallsend. He then paid seven weeks’ rent on a sawmill cottage at Dobson, but the Smiths refused to take it. Mr McGinley said that Mr Newman was 72 and his wife 67, and claimed that their- circumstances warranted an order for possession. He added that the house at Dobson had been laid out in gardens when Mr Newman had it, but it was now covered with weeds and blackberries some feet high, whilst ashes, 3ft high were stacked at the side of the house. The whole garden bore a neglected appearance. it Mr Taylor submitted that there were no * grounds upon which the order should be made. The Newmans were not dependents of an ex-service-man. He added that Mr McGinley had made a good deal of the fact that the garden was neglected and that ashes were on the property. These ashes were used to fill in the pathways. Hr said that Smith was only too willing to vacate, if he could get something suitable. . After hearing evidence, the Magistrate said everybody knew how difficult tenancy matters were to-day. The court had a duty to decide between the hardship of the parties. Often it could only be rough justice, no matter how hard the court tried to achieve what was right and proper. He said his sympathy was with the Newmans, but that was not the deciding factor. The allegations had not been substantiated and the application would be adjourned sine die. Matters might alter in the future, and the Smiths, in all decency, should try to get out of the house.

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