COMPENSATION COURT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 62, 4 July 1914, Page 3

COMPENSATION COURT.

CLAIM AGAINST THE PUBLIO WORKS QE PARI ME NT. A sitting of the Compensation Court was opened at New Plymouth last Wednesday afternoon, Mr Justice Hosking presiding. The case was that in which the New Plymouth Borough Council claimed from the Minister for Public Works the sum of £I7G9 3s Id as compensation for the Minister's action in opening a ballast pit, constructing a. siding and removing gravel from the Council's property at Skinner Road. The assessors were Messrs E. Maxwell, for the Council, and C. H. Vick-i crnip.ii, for the* .Minister for Public Works. Mr C. P. Skerrett, K.C., with Mr iv. H. Quilliam, appeared for the Council, and Mr H. H. Ostler (of the Crown Law office) for the. Minister. The taking of evidence occupied the Court till yesterday afternoon, when the Court adjourned until 8 o'clock last night to consider the points raised. At about half an hour, after that time, the Court returned with its award. The award declared that the gravel and grit on the land, at Skinner Road did have a commercial value to the claimant i" 1903, apart from the fact that it was taken by the Crown, an for this value £457 16s was award"l. The value of the laud alone to the claimant in 1903 when the Crown entered was assessed at £lO7 17s 2d. Its value in November, 1912, when it was formally taken under proclam-

latum, was assesed at £lßl 5s lOd. j Compensation was also awarded for damage by severance £43 12s, and loss of rent £22 10s. The only question remaining to be settled is whether the value of the land without gravel (which value is to be added to the other compensation) shall be taken as in 1903 or in 1912, and this point was held over for legal argument before the judge alone in August next. The council was, moreover, awarded a right of way from January, 1918, over the seventeen acres taken by the Crown, and this was valued at £268 3s. The judge at first desired to leave the value of this open, but Mr Ostler objected on the grounds that its value must be ascertained in order to ensure that the total compensation was over half the imount claimed, before awarding costs for the Borough Council. The Court thereupon fixed the valuation. Costs were awarded to the Borough Council to the amount of £7O, and the fee for each assesor was fixed at £SO, each party to pay its own assessor. The effect of the award will be that the Council will receive the right of way mentioned and in addition compensation amounting to £631 15s if the land is valued as in 1903, or £705 3s lOd if valued as in 1912. The Court was formally adjourned to Wellington on August 7.