SUPREME COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 July 1920, Page 5

SUPREME COURT.

A QUESTION OF TENURE. EGMONT BOX COMPANY'S CASE. Judgment was given in the Supreme Court at Wellington by His Honor Mr. Justice Sim in the case of the Egmont Box Company, Limited, against the Reg-istrar-General of Lands. In the course of his judgment, His Honor said that the plaintiff company was the owner or occupier of certain lands and the proprietor of timber rights over or in respect of several blocks of land, one being* in regard to 2340 acre-i of native land held under a grant for a term expiring on January 31st, 1922, and others with a total area of 25,386 acres under grants for a term of fifty year.?. The company was desirous of acquiring, and had made tentative arrangements to acquire, timber-cutting and tramway righis over and in respect of certain other lands which are subject to the provisions of part 13 of the Land Act, 1908, and the question submitted to the court for determination was whether or not the plaintiff company waß debarred by the provisions of section 341 of th? Land Act, 1908, from acquiring such ! timber-cutting and tramway rights. | After quoting a number of cases bearing on the one before the court, His I Honor answered the question as follows: "For tie purposes of section 341 of the Land Aet, the land, of which the plaintiff has the exclusive occupation by means of sawmills and other buildings, or the like, is to be treated as land held under leasehold tenure, but the, land in respect of which the plaintiff has merely the right to cut and remove the timber ; is not land owned, held, or occupied by