A LAND CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 35, 9 February 1917, Page 2

A LAND CASE.

■ . I QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP. SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT. Judgment in a case in which the Court was asked to decide the rightful ownership of a block of 29S acres of land at Waitakaruru, in tho Thames Valley, was delivered at the Supreme Court yesterday by the Registrar, Mr. R. G. Thomas, on behalf of his Honor Mr. Justice Stringer. The plaintiff was Alice Graham (Mr. H. P. Richmond) and the defendant Robert Coxhead (Mr. li. 11. Ostler). FARM PURCHASED FROM NAATIVE3. The land was purchased by the plaintiff from the then native owners, some time prior to August, IS9B. for the sum of £89 Ss, being at the rate of 0/- an acre. Pending negotiations for a confirmation order of the transfer, under the provisions of the Native Land Court Act. 1594, an agreement was entered into between the plaintiff and the defendant, dated September 22. 1599, whereby the plaintiff agreed to lease to the defendant, for a term of 21 years, a block of 50 acres, being part of the land included in the transfer from the native! owners to the plaintiff. The rental was fixed at 2' an acre, and there was a right i of purchase by the defendant, at any i time within the term, of 10 of the 50, acres, to be selected by the defendant,; an;! to be paid for by him at the rate! of £5 an acre. The agreement also contained a provision that in the event of j anything happening outside the c ntrolj of the plaintiff which *ireveiited her giv-j ing a strictly legal title, the defendant! would accept her title to hold and o.'cir-y 1 the land as sufficient performance of the, agreement on her part. Several unfile ' ccseful efforts were mn.le by the pla.'ntiff > to obtain confirmation of the transfer in I its original form, and on one occasion ; it was proposed to increase the pur-1 chase price to £1 an acre, the Govern-' ment valuation of the land. In 1007 the native-; were threatening to eject the ( defendant from the land, anil in order to I ■prevent this he, with the knowledge ofj tiie plaintiff's agent, obtained from the natives a lease of the whole block included in the transfer to the plaintiff, for a term of 21 yeans, with the right of j renewal for a further term of 21 years. This lease; although made in 1907. was not registered until January 5. 1911. It was understood between the parties that, the lease which Coxhead secured was a temporary expedient to meet the imminent danger of the natives recovering possession of the land by ejectment, and to enable further efforts to be made to obtain a title to the freehold for the plaintiff. "■"-LAINTTFF SUCCEEDS. His Honor's judgment made reference to certain correspondence in connection! with the deal of the parties concerned, and, after reviewing the circumstances, held that the defendant acquired the title to the land in the capacity of agent for the plaintiff, and that he did so to I protect his own interests under his. agreement with the plaintiff, of Sep-1 tember 22, 1899. If, after the effort* to I obtain the title in the plaintiff's name j had failed, the defendant intended to act I entirely on his own behalf, and termi-1 nate the relationship that had hitherto existed between him and the plaintiff, it was his legal and moral duty to intimate this to tho plaintiff in plain and unambiguous language. So far, however, from the defendant ever having given any intimation to the, plaintiff of his intention to cease to act for her. his actions subsequent to July 13, 1910, showed that he had no such intention. It was difficult to suppose that the Native Land "ourt would have objected to the plaintiff, who was the original .purchaser of :he land, obtaining her title, provided she paid what the Court considered to •>e an adequate price for the land. His Honor held that the defendant must be leclared to hold the property as trustee "or the plaintiff. The defendant was ordered to pay the plaintiff's costs, and leave was given to the parties to take the action further.