A DEFINITION WANTED

Southland Times, Issue 18818, 11 May 1920, Page 5

A DEFINITION WANTED

WHA IS A DISCHARGED SOLDIER? (Special to the Times.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 10. Hie question of what constitutes a “discharged soldier” was raised again at the Magistrate’s Court before Mr S. E. McCarthy, S.M., during the hearing of a case in which Mrs M. Roberts sought to recover possession of a tenement from Harry Nicholas. Under the War Legislation and Statute Law Amendment Acts, 1918, a discharged soldier cannot be ejected from a tenement if he pays the rent, keeps the premises in good order, and does not make himself a nuisance to the neighbours. Mr Amodeo, who appeared for the defendant in this, case before the Court, contended that the defendant could not in point of law be ejected, as he was a discharged soldier. Mr Cunningham, who appeared for the plaintiff, disagreed with this contention, holding that defendant was not a discharged soldier in that he had not served overseas but had merely been in camp for a period of four months. The Magistrate stated that he must be furnished with a definition of what constituted a discharged soldier in point of law. The defendant might be a discharged soldier, but it did not seem to be justice that a returned soldier could be kept oat of a house which he had bought by a man who had not served overseas. The case would be adjourned for a month to enable the legal position to be looked into.