Compensation Court

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 37, 3 July 1914, Page 7

Compensation Court

THE BOROUGH COUNCIL S CLAIM. YESTERDAY'S SITTLNcI. The silting of the Compensate, Court at New Plymouth was continue,l yesterday, the case being mat 01 Ulie New Plymouth Borough Council v. the Public VVorks Department. Lewis Coster Madden, ci New Plymoiuth, engineer and surveyor, with '23 years' Taranaki experience in local body and private work, deposed that he knew the Skinner road pit and district. Ther t waa an insufficient supply of metal fo> present and future roads in the district cast ol Stratford, and metal had biym brought from the Patea riv.r and shell rock from the Ohura road district. Relative to its utility, shell rock was very costly, an.l metal from the L'atca river was also expensive. There was considerable activity in road-making cast of Stratford in tie last ten years. In the other parts of Taranaki metal was obtained principally from rivers and beaches. In the last ten years royalti"s had ranged from lid to (id per yard. He had paid 3d in the soutU ni part of the Taranaki eountv. whk-h was well -applied with metal of a #ort. None of

it was first-class road, metal. When he ■iw the Skinner road pit in September last it looked as if «J1 the gravel thai WiM worth taking had been taken frcrn it. l<roin information he '.should wiv Oi.iat a good deal of it was used for railway ballast and concrete work. It could have been used for roads, although it was not first-class road metal. About lid per yard royalty would 'have been demanded for it by a private owner , The use of concrete was increasiiiu | vapidly, and was cheaper than brick. I There was very little brick-clay west of Patea township, and, in fact, in the whole of Taranaki. There were very fevboulders left in the pit. Probably'lion:dcrk in the bed of a stream would be proportionally harder than those in pits He could not say whether the figure* an - ttupplied by the Department, and which formed the basis of the present claim, were correct. Mr. Ostle r intimated that since the .'.rures had been supplied to the Council annt&er surv \y had been made and the -ult was that they found there were more cubic yards of material removed than previously thought. Gross-examined by Air. Ostler, witness ..laid he thought it'likely that sufficient metal would be acquired from Mt. Egmont for all road making required m Taranaki for some time in the future. When lie examined the pit last September, lie -aw tire stratum <,f grit, on the edge of the quarry, but it would mi; be of very much use except for eeriaM purposes.

Christian Kkitrop, to t-hy New Plymouth Boroiifxli Council. said that a substantial portion of his -20 years' experience in road-making had been -p'-iii in the eastern part of Taranaki. Road metal in Mm district wa« fairly scarce, and lie thought that anything from 3d to Is royally in thai locality would be a proper prion. lie inspect I'd til,. Skinner road pit. ]I is evidence was similar t 0 that of the previous witness.

•Robert Owen Ellis, clerk to Ihe Taranaki ( ounty Council, defim-d the iMjimdaries of the county, and indicated the prices paid lor road metal, which varied lrom 3d to (id per yard. To Mr. Ostler: Generally speaking, mostly river metal was. used 011 the roads.

Campbell Jacki-on. lam] jigent and valuer, of Stratford, and ex-farmer, deposed tliat lie was at one time a sublesvje of the Skinner road property. He gave up possession of the property about twelve years :ip). and while in occupation of Hie land hrs attention had been called to the gravel through a Stratford syndicate who wished to rim a tram line through the property. He agreed with other witness.-:- as to royalty and other generalities. The pit now lessened the value of the land bv about £•> per acre for 10-t acre*. Francis J'eaeoek Covkill, land and valuer, of New Plviimutji. said lie had been in business 'since 1881. He had examined the Skinner road property. The existence of a pit hid had a very serious effect on what was one of th'<> best farms of the district, and tt.«> farm as it existed was badly mutilated. He dealt in detail with the damage to the property, the amount of material removed. and ihe delay on the part ol the Department in snpplviii!; the in formation asked for bv 'the Borouirh Council,

To Mr. Ustl r: He 1i.i.l valued t'ie land in 1012 at £)!"> per acre for farm land.! but t'h'OU'.'ht if would brinj; it: 1 rr 'low ii. the open market. There had a bifr increase of value-, latelv . This closed the ease for the claimant Mr. Ostler, ir openiii!; the eav for the defence, dea't with the removal of impression- which he contended Mr. Skerrett had tri.\l ;<> in raiding <errespondejlce at the u t filing of (he ca.-e lie colll'tnicd thai Ihe W'linle rf | he (r,jrespo!id"iiee - lowed that the ('ojtici! not mi-led a- to the hiiL'th of !hc lent! for which ihe (fovcrn.inT.t took the 11 e ol the land. 01 the aurccne nit(

show 1::; i t ;h" !"i m \\ a - i ■ at "so h-njt as the Ciovernnicnt mac recpiire it."' Mr. Pkcnctt had emitted l< read correspondence which t- n.ll ■ I I show that the agreement was pern-cd by the solicitors to the Council, and it was idle to say that the expi'c-.-ion temporary m the preliminary co:;v--pondence in aiwa v milled Hie t .niii cil. Dealing with .Mr. Pkerrett's 're

marks as to ll;e delay !>v the Depart nient in supplying particulars .if tindamage. Mr. Ostler Contended thai tin Horoiijih (."uiK'il liad by its i-hiv■po»-dence always advocated arliil.rai ii.n, an,! had as a dialler of fact mi-conceived the position ciMilpletclprobable (ml', naturally, as they had virtually t'orfrotteii all about the arranirenii nt with the Department. 'J'he Council had taken mi ,111 unreasonable altitude in llireateiiin!;' to determine the arramje. luelit because the 1 lepal'tinent did no' supply n.irlicular. of the dama»,. »lni it was e'qiresslv agreed iliat the - -ln.nM he d»ne when the daniaLV" had cea-ed ill other words when the Department iiad fini-hed vitli the land. Tlis Honor i < marked thai both |..i r i:, - 1 had been -trnir^lillwith a i ]>"villv 1 v and indefinite agreement. Mr. I)»|)i>r. snbmilti d Thai the Council S ael ion in ti T ■■ Department to take the hind by proclamation in-nad of carryini; out the terms of the arrangement. rcducd its verb!- to the Sainton' elaini for eoin'ii• 11^a11; n for the va'ue of the land. The ( '■ ni'ii il l'epndialed the ngr.i-menl and (!i-» -oii'jlit to j'nlii in i|. | t . ■ itl-si i|.,i nt renisal to supply panic.dais was only rea-onable. Tfe contended that the onus lay on the claimant I'!'o\'e that: the travel underneath the land enhanced i(s surface value in l!!rt:>. lie would submit, that t' e l( uc.tions for the Court to decide were ill what was the value of tlr land to Cv ; claimant when the Cr.,\vn .-nf• l'.■ ■! : n li'flS? wliat \va . it'» value in I ami (:!) what was the valine the j.'V:iv"l taken by the Department'.'

Llis Honor remarked t/liat the answer to the first crest inn was oijuivalciit to the added answer., !i. the second and third

Til: claimants' whole case, Mr Ostler contended, was based not on their loss hut 011 the Department's gain, and this was a violation of the principle of compensatory law. lie continued hia addre>\< on tihese lines at some length, and after speaking for over two hours he proceeded to call evidence. John L. H. Richard- 1 , a member of the Stratford liorough Council, with 15 years experience in Stratford land sales, deposed that the 17 acres on Skinner road were valued by him rix weeks ago, as at IWO3 and' 191-2. In 19H3 it was l worth £1(1 Mis per acre. The who!e farm was then worth £l-1 10s per acre. As at November, ltn-2, the 17 acres was worth! £1!) per acre and the whole farm £2<) per acre. The railway line bad not materially damaged water rights. It wal* unlikely that the Borough Council would use grave; from the Skinner road pit. To llr Skerrett: He was not an expert in gravel deposit,?, Jlis valuations were the highest that 'he could conscientiously give., lie disagreed with Mr Corkilil when the latter'said that dairying sands- had not risen in value round Stratford in the Inst two or three years. lie reduced t'he value of the 17 acres £2 per acre because it was distant from the roadway—tinwidth of the icst of the section." Witness was keenly cross-examined as to the basis for 'his valuations 1 .

Allan Oood, of Ilawera, fanmier, deposed that in 11103 the 17 acres would he worth £ll per acre and in 11)12 £2O. lie gave evidence similar to that of the previous witnes's.

To Mr Skerrett: He and Richards mule their valuations at the same time.

Mr Skerrett; And haw two grea 1 minds a<-ree!

K. C. Robinson, of Stratford, civil engineer and surveyor, engineer for the Wlianganiomona County Council and for the past ten years engineer to the Stratford County Council, deposed 'that e.e knew the Skinner road pit. Boulders from the pit' had ftoen used on the county roads, the amounts being: <SO cubic yards at 4s per yard and 834 cuoic yards at 4a fid por yard, both bought in February, MOS. and both delivered along the Toko line, but the second further away from the pit. Other metal procured from the pit was in March, 1011, of 551 cubic yards at os per yard, also "22yds of gravel at 2s per yard, and some other material (probably grit), costing £9 lis Gil. Tie found that the 2000 cubic yards of metal served a purpose, but not satisfactorily. The boulders were generally softer than those secured from the Patea river. He had seen the old Mt. Egmont quarry, which had been used for some years, and considered that the new quarry would supply enough metal for tlie district for some considerable time. From his observations of the. material in the Skinner road pit, he considered that the grit would not be suitable for roadmaking, provided better material was available, and this was available in the river-beds. River boulders would cost less than material from the pit delivered at the railway station. The class of material used on roads was improving vcar by year.

To Mr. Skerrett: Within a radius of seven or eight miles from Stratford the chief source of metal supply was boulders from the Patea and other rivers. The Stratford County Council had never paid a lower royalty than 3d per yard, and the average on day labor contracts was about 5d per yard. Frederick Wm. Furkert, inspecting engineer to the. Public Works Department, with 20 years' New Zealand experience, and at one time district engineer in Otago. and resident engineer at Stratford in 1003, deposed that he was in charge of the construction of the first section of the Stratford-Toko He reported to the Department on the. Skinned road pit and sank prospecting shafts there. Part of the land now taken by the Government corresponded fairly accurately with that on which he, sank shafts. The undisturbed portion of the gravel deposit was about the same as that already worked. He thought it extended some distance along the river. The supply of gravel at the siding was greater than appeared in other places. The first pit that he opened was about two miles from Stratford alongside the Patea river, and this yielded over 14,000 vards of ballast of not so good a quality as that in the Skinner road pit. There was less stripping than at Skinner road, and the grit formation was similar. The pit was eventually abandoned because the grade to the line was too steep. lie went exploring for another deposit, and found the Skinner road deposit plainly visible. The section of line from Toko to Douglas was then in construction. From the time the pit was opened it was worked for about six months, and then closed for about two years, until ballasting was started oil the Tluiroa section. _ It was not open when he left the district in 100(1. He could not say from his own knowledge how long the pit was then used after its re-opening. The recentlyopened Mt. Kgmont quarry, to which l.e built the line, contained from one to two million cubic yards of solid rock :n (.ijfht. The ballast from the Skinner road pit was fairly good, hut better and cheaper stuff from Mt. Egmont was no<v available. It was not correct to sa.v that all the gravel worth taking Had been taken from the Skinner road pit. The ciinif formation extended over a large part of the land which the. Crown had taken. The shafts '-petered out" ;i ]on2 the line. Only about five to ten per cent, of the material was suitable for road-making. The seventeen acres taken was not as valuable for farm land as the rest of the farm. It comprN'd swar.'.p. gully, logs and standing bush. ' Apart from the siding which the Government had put iu for its own use, or even with the siding, it would not pay as a ! commercial proposition to take gravel 1 from the Skinner road pit. To Mr. Skerrett: In sixty miles of " country the Skinner road pit was the 1 onlv available pit for the Departments I purposes. He did not remember being 1 congratulated by the Department m ' bavin* onened up the pit. Over 40.000 concrete 'blocks were constructed troi.i ' material from the pit. but this win not ' contemplated at the time. At 10 p.m. tlu* Court mljimrnrn till id 1 a.m. to-day.