BALANCE-SHEET TAGGED.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4941, 19 February 1926, Page 2

BALANCE-SHEET TAGGED.

LEADS TO LITIGATION. CASE OF UNUSUAL IMPORTANCE. A case of outstanding importance' to members of local oodies, as affecting their travelling expenses, was. heard in'the Hamilton -Magistrate’s ' Court on Tuesday i(aays toe.“ Times”), when the Audit Department (Mr H. T. Gillies) sought to recover' from. Henry Arthur' Lurman, a former chairman of the. Otorohanga County Council, the sijm, of £lll6s. The defendant, jvho was, represent-? ed by Mr E. M. Ma,ckers,ey, paid, into Court £8 Bs, but denied liability. The Crown could not lift this sum . until the question of liability had been decided. :■ The circumstances!, explained Mr Gillies, were that for the -year ended March 31, 1924, the Audit Office tagged the balancersheet of the Otorohanga County Council in regard .to tlie payment of £2,-2s per meeting, pa.id to, the members, each of whom w’as surcharged for the amount over 12s 6d per meeting. AU the membersexcept Mr Lurman paid .the amount surcharged, but Mr Lurman refused to do so. Mr Gillies contended that under the Public Revenues Act the surcharge could only be questioned if , it was’ manifestly unfair. He relied, on the decision of the House of Lords,-, which recently upheld the English Audit Department •• in its claims, against- ‘ the Poplar and ■ Bethnall Green Poor Law Guardians, who paid their employees a. greater sum than the amount allowed by law. The Di-, visional Court upheld the Audit De-, partment, and went to the Appeal Court, which gave a; decision in favour of the Guardians. The House of Lords, however, unanimously * upheld the Audit Department. For the Mr Mackersey maintained that the decision of Mr Justice Williams, which expressed the view that members of local! bodies. were entitled to a reasonable amount per meeting. The same pro* vision, said Mr Mackersey, jvas re-' enacted in the Act' of 1920, and thus the decision became, the law of the land. The magistrate, Mr Wyvern Wilson, reserved his decision.