LAW QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 46

LAW QUERIES.

[Answered by a solicitor ot the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Letters and Telegrams must be addressed to “ LEX,” c/o Editor. Otago Witness, Dunedin.] “ Interested.”—lf the letter was addressed to your father, he is the only person who is entitled to the letter. “ Inquirer No. 3 ” asks : “ I am paying for a small section of land in Australia by instalments. I have already paid seven instalments. The secretary of the company refuses to send me receipts for the last two instalments paid. What is the the best course for me to take ? ” You can claim receipts for payments made by you. Failing obtaining the receipts, you should instruct someone in Australia to interview the company with regard to the matter. “ Oteramika ” asks : “ I wish to apply for a State Advances loan of £3OO on a table mortgage sinking fund. (1) What would the interest on the loan and sinking fund be yearly- ? (2) What would be the costs of application for same ? (3) What would be the solicitor’s fees, if any ? ” The interest and the sinking fund would depend upon the table under which the loan -was granted. The best course is to write the State Advances Superintendent, Wellington, on the matter, stating the circumstances in your particular case, and he will give you the full information required. F. H. J. asks : “About eight months ago I borrowed six bags of coal from a neighbour. Since then my financial position would not allow me to purchase a truck of the same coal, and the local merchants do not stock it. I offered to pay him for his six bags, and he refuses. _ I offered to give him one ton of lignite and he also refuses. I then purchased six bags of better coa l and landed it on the spot where I took the borrowed coal from. He would not accept it, so I took it away again. (1) Can he still claim his own coal ? (2) Can I refuse to have anything more to do with it?” (1) Yes. (2) No. “ Settler ” asks : “A man leased a farm alongside mine for grazing stock. In doing so he signed an agreement to keep the fences in repair, but has not done so, consequently some of my stock go on to his land, as there is no fence to prevent them. He drives my cattle off and locks them up in a shed, without notifying me. As I am often away for long periods, those stock -would be left to die of starvation and thirst. In one instance this would have occurred only they managed to jump over the rails. Have I any remedy, or can he drive them off and lock them up ? ”• Before you can proceed against your neighbour you must put the fences in order. If the fences are not in order, you have no claim with regard to the stock. “Inquirer No. 2” asks : “(1) What compensation am I entitled to for the loss of the first finger off my right hand while at my employment in a flourmill ? My employer has me insured. (2) Am I entitled to medical expenses ? (3) To what wages am I entitled while off work ? (4) What is the procedure of claiming compensation ? ” (1) Twenty per cent ratio of compensation to full compensation as for total incapacity. (2) £l. (3) Sixty-six and two-thirds of your average weekly earnings at the time of the accident. (4) You must serve notice of the accident on the employer. You should obtain a settlement from the insurance company, and, failing a proper settlement, you should instruct your solicitor on the matter. T. H. B. asks : “ I bought a farm with two mortgages on it. I paid off the second mortgage, and resold the farm, giving a transfer. The purchaser defaulted and threw up the farm. (1) Has the first mortgagee any claim on me if I do not choose to take up the farm again? (2) A farmer wishes me to assist him ■ financially to carry on. His stock and plant are clear. If I get an agreement drawn up giving me security over the said stock and plant, and he signs it, will that be legally effective ? (3) Will such agreement prevent him giving security to any firm over stock and plant, it being only stamped and not registered ? (4) What value of stamp will it require ? ” —i(1) If you signed the first mortgage you are still liable under the mortgage. (2) If the security is properly drawn up and registered it will be legally effective. (3) Yes. (4) A mortgage over stock is not subject to stamp duty. “Inquirer” asks : “(1) What is the land tax on property valued at £2lOO ? (2) Have the Government directors of the Bank of New Zealand a vote on the directorate ? (fl) If not, when was legislation passed by Parliament taking away this voting privilege ? (4) If several persons are partners in a business, is the income of each person assessed separately ? (5) Is each income assessed, separately if the business is a limited liability one ? (6) What is the income tax on income derived from mining ? (7) What is the total cost of forming a limited liability company with a capital of £lOO to £lOOO ? ” (1) You will be taxed on £lBOO at the rate of Id in the £ for every £1 thereof, increased by one-two-thousandth of a penny for every £1 in excess of £lOOO. (2) Yes. (3) No legislation was passed for this purpose. (4) Yes. (5) The company is assessed for duty. (6) I n the case of a gold mining or scheelite mining company the taxable income in any year is deemed to be one-half of the total sum paid as dividends during tbe year to the shareholders of the company. (7) The disbursements range from £l3 5s to £l3 14s.

The final returns of the Poppy Day appeal have now been received by the secretary of the Dunedin Returned Sol-' diets’ Association (Mr O. L. Ferens), and it is found that the total amount is £1658 15s 2d. When the expenses have been paid, about £lOOO will remain for providing work for disabled ex-soldiers. There are about 200 men on the association’s books awaiting employment, and the committee intends to place some of them in work at the earliest possible date. The vital statistics for the month of May were as follow, the figures for the corresponding period of last year being given in parentheses:—Births 117 (132), marriages 55 (49), deaths 62 (64). Objection to the continued transfer of domicile by debenture-holders in order to benefit by exchange was raised at a meeting of the Auckland and Suburban Drainage Board last week. Mr W. W Watkins, engineer and secretary, reported that eight transfers of domicile from Melbourne to different places in New Zealand had been made in respect of loan No. 5 of £lOO,OOO and two in respect of loan No. 7 of £25,000. Mr A. J. Entrican said some restraint should be placed upon continual transfers. It was quite reasonable for one transfer to be made. The Mayor (Mr G. W. Hutchison) said that debentureholders had the right to transfer and there did not seem to be any means of restraining them. The transfers were approved and it was decided to obtain an opinion on the question of several changes of domicile.

“ The deer season proved a complete fiasco,” says the report of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society to be presented 'at the annual meeting. “ Irresponsible persons wandered over the country, before the season, firing at everything, and damaging everything except deer, driving stags and hinds far back into the forests. Consequently when the roaring season began, a fortnight after the season opened, the stags and hinds remained in the depths of the forests, and probably are there still. The moral is plain—the removal of protection does not by any means denote the removal of the deer. Under a license, only men who can shoot as well as walk go out and get stags and hinds; the general public gets neither; on the contrary, many farmers in the Manawatu and Wairarapa complain of damage done to stock.”

Despite the warnings published in the press, following the earthquake, people went to Hastings with the idea of obtaining work. Mrfny are now at the end of their resources. Hastings has 600 unemployed of its own, and in view of that fact the Welfare Committee has decided that strangers arriving destitute are ineligible for assistance from the local funds. Strangers not possessing adequate resources go to the district at their own risk.

Cr Hayward, chairman of the General Committee of the City Council, states that the committee has decided to recommend to the council that any registered medical practitioner residing in Dunedin should have the right to issue a certificate with respect to the medical test required for the motor drivers of public vehicles and omnibuses in accordance with the new Government regulations.

The trustees of the Sir George Fenwick Bequest have purchased from the exhibition of paintings by Robert Johnson at the Bristol Piano Company concert chamber two pictures, "No. 16 and 17, “ Old. Street, Casselis ” and “ Broughton Creek, South Coast, New South Wales.” The exhibition will close on June 9.

On behalf of Michael Edward Farrell, Messrs Minogue and Carey, solicitors, have issued a Supreme Court writ directed to the Herald and Weekly Times, Ltd., of Flinders street, Melbourne, claiming £3OOO damages for libel alleged to have been contained in one of a series of articles published in the Herald last year about the exploits of the Kelly gang of bushrangers. The writ sets out that the damages are claimed for libel contained in the issue of the Herald newspaper of November 28, 1930, wherein defendant falsely and maliciously printed and published, or caused to be printed and published, of the plaintiff under the heading “ The Kellys Are Out ” the words following:—“And along with this sort of work Farrell, the policeman, stole a horse from George King and had him in Whitty and Farrell’s paddocks until he left the force.”

The fusion of the political parties was the subject of a discussion at the Southland Provincial Conference of the Farmers’ Union last week, when a remit from the Invercargill branch dealing with the support of a Government which would reduce taxation came before the conference. At one stage the policy Of non-interference by the union in party political matters was introduced, but after the deletion of a clause concerning the size of electorates, the remit was carried to go before the Dominion Executive for consideration. A telegram from Christchurch states that the vital statistics for May, compared with those for May, 1930, were s Births 168 (205), deaths 92 (111), marriages, 81 (85). The extraordinary speed of radio waves, compared with sound waves, was strikingly demonstrated by a radio listener on a recent Sunday. He was sitting in his motor car, listening to a hand concert, which was being broadcast. Having a portable set in the car, he tuned in, and discovered that he was hearing the music ffom the loud-speaker of the set a full bar ahead of the sound from the band rotunda. He was about 150 yards distant from where the band was playing.