COURT OF APPEAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2732, 1 November 1894, Page 4

COURT OF APPEAL.

Wellington, October 29. The case Timaru Harbour Board v. New Zealand Railway Commissioners is being argued at the Court of Appeal. The case is an appeal from Mr Justice Denniston, The action is one in which the appellant board claims an injunction restraining the respondents from leasing part of the lauds connected with the station, Timaru, for the purposes of store sites and from using it otherwise than as a road. Part of the land reclaimed from the sea by the board was vested in Her Majesty by an Act of Parliament in 1881 with the oonsent of the board for the purposes of a railway station, as a result of negotiations between the board and Minister of Public Works. The board piaims that its consent was obtained on *he understanding that the land would not be used otherwise than as a railway station, apd aJ so that the plans referred to in the negotiations showed a cart road along the boundary of the land being acquired by the Government and to which the land being retained by the board fronted and that the board and its tenants were to have the use of this road. The Commissioners, however, in 1890 leased part of the laud shown as a road to John Mill as a store site, and in consequence of this the board brought this action claiming an injunction. Mr Justice Donniston gave judgment for the defendant Commissioners, holding that there was no agreement to allow the board the use of the road in Question oj: bindjng defendants not to let to private individuals. His Honour also held that as the Act of Parliament vesting the land in Her Majesty transferred the fee simple to the Crown without any mention of the road the board could not have obtained relief even Ijad it' established the agreement, The appeal is being heard by the Chief Justice aud Justices Riohmond, Williams, and Conolly. 11l Xl??enberger and Mr Kinnerney appear for the appellant bqard; Mr Joyut for the respondents. October 30. The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal in the case of the Timaru Harbour Board v. New Zealand Railway Commissioners, without calling on counsel for respondents to argue. The court held that, on the evidence, no contract by the Railway Department to use the land for railway purposes only, or to allow the harbour board the use of the road, had been made out; and further, that even if there had been an agreement to that effect, the Act of Parliament vesting the land in the Crown overrode it. Respondents were allowed costs on the highest Bcale.