RIVERSIDE WORKS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4826, 6 May 1925, Page 3

RIVERSIDE WORKS.

CLAIM FOB COMPENSATION.

THE OHINEMURI STOP-BANKS. A cumpensation case under the Waihou and Qhinemuii Rivers improvement -Acts. 'in which W. N. Chamberlain (Mr West, instructed by Idf E- W. Porritt) ciaime £.’37 u from the' Crown (Mr Meredith), for damage to his riverside property, on the 'peninsula formed by the great bow of the river known as the Peremki Bend, was heard on Monday, before •Mr Justice Herdman, Mr C. R. Vickerman, assessor for the Public Works Department,’ and Mr; F. W. Walters, assessor for the claimant. The evi-

dence was taken at Te Arolia recently. but the legal aspect had been reserved for consideration in' Auckland. Three grounds of defence were urged by Mr Meredith on behalf of the Crown: (1) That there was a com-mon-law right to construct the stopbanks which, are alleged to have caused depreciation of the claimant’s property; and-this'without liability for compensation; (2) that the Act expressly provided that no compensation was payable except for land taken; and (3) that under the betterment provisions of the Act advantaages would accrue to the claimant from the construction of the stopbanks that would outweigh any damage that he had suffered or that could possibly arise, Mr Meredith submitted that claimant had benefited, with other settlers, from the £400,000 expended,' . and £200.000 yet to be, spent by the State in protecting the banks of the Waihou and Ohinemuri against overflow, in that their properties now had a value, whereas if the publie works had not been constructed they would have been worthless. Mr West, for .the claimant, maintained (1) That the Public Works Department, in the erection of the stop-banks, had also, blocked certain natural overflow channels which relieved the-flood-waters of the Ohinemur.i River in times of flood, particularly. at Moananui’s. Flat, at Kaouiti Creek,* /and . at ■ the- Waihou River, thereby; infringing the general common law right of . a riparian owner to erect stop-banks to protect his land from flood-waters; (2,) that in respect to the claimant's land, there had been such- a virtual taking .that by reason of-sections-10. and 11 of the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Improvement Act the claimant was entitled to compensation ; (3) that the betterment referred to .in .the Act accrued to the claimant and not to the land, and that in this action no-betterment could be .said to have accrued to the claimant. : - " , Mr West. said*that it had been-ad-mitted before . Royal Commissions which, had inquired into the river problem that there, would be actual detriment. to the settlers’ land, and provision, for compensation had been made in. the estimates of the commissions. He maintained that by reason. of the works to date, no betterment had accrued to the claimant.. He further pointed but that betterment depended upon the effect of the works as -a. whole when completed.. The. works were not yet completed,, and, owing to possibilities of a change of Government, financial stringency, or a change in the scheme, there was no guraantee that such work would be completed; and, further, that the .f200;000, the balance of the, sum of £600.000 to be expended on the works, had not yet been actually authorised. At the conclusion of the argument .the-award of-the* Court was as follows:

(a) The Court finds as a fact that no, natural bevrflow channel has been blocked by the erection of stop-banks. (b) the claimant's land r by reason of the erection of the stop-banks ; c>n the left bank of the Ohinemuri River, has depreciated in value to the extent pf £5OO, and that compensa- ' tion should be fixed at this amount, (c) That no betterment has accrued . tv the. land by reason, of the river works, and no sum shall therefore be ./set off in favour of the-Minister for Public Works against the amount ,of ■- damages awarded. The following legal points were reserved for the decision of the Court of Appeal on a case to be stated :— •‘(a) Whether a common-law right in the-erection of .the has been - infringed, entitling the claimant to compensation; (b) An interpretaiton of sections.lo and 11 of the Act as to the payment of compensation.” The' case is one of .a series of claims against the Government arising. out bf.the extensive riverside protection works necessitated by the blocking of the beds of the rivers by tailings from- .the Wai hi • mining • It is understood that the claims of many other settlers hinge . upon the decision of the present case.