EX-SOLDIER TENANTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1922, Page 5

EX-SOLDIER TENANTS.

CAN THEY BE EJECTED” TEST CASE IN COURT. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. .The hearing of an important test case commenced in the Supreme Court to-day, to determine whether the protection previously afforded returned soldier tenants against ejectment by landlords was repealed by section 9 of The Housing Amendment Act, 1921. The case *is one in which Archibald Lawrie, landlord, proceeded in the Magistrate’s Court against William Robinson, for possession of a shop and dwelling in Newtown. The magistrate (Mr. Hunt) made an order for ejectment, so that the matter could be taken to the Supreme Court for a test action. On behalf of the appellant Robinson, Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., said that during the war years tenants, whether soldiers or non-soldiers, were protected by legislation restricting the rent payable and the Act of 1918 added, in case of soldiers or soldiers’ dependents, protection against ejection so long as the rent was paid and the terms of the lease were complied with. Counsel traversed the effects of various amendments of the law relating to tenants. The latest Act created new ground on which an order for ejectment could be made against a tenant, but Mr. Skerrett contended that Parliament never intended that the right of soldier tenants to special protection should be taken away. The case is proceeding.