TO PAY £19,902.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 274, 19 November 1927, Page 12

TO PAY £19,902.

FOR G.O.C. BUSES.

CLAIM AGAINST CITY.

award of compensation

COURT.

END OF HARD-FOUGHT ACTION

ASSESSING THE VALUE OF SECOND

HAND VEHICLES,

A sum of approximately £20,000 is to be paid by Auckland Corporation as compensation in respect of the G.O.C. motor bus service and supplementary fleet, which was taken over by order of the Supremo Court in August last. By the decision of the Compensation Court (Mr. Justice Herdman, sitting with the Hon. E. W. Alison and Mr. G. R. Hutchinson as assessors), which was announced this morning. £10,427 5/5 is awarded to the Mount Eden Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., in respect of the G.O.C. buses, 35 in number, together with garage, technical equipment, etc., and a sum of £3475 for the nine buses, parage, etc., formerly owned by Mr. R. H. Hieatt. The question of costs will stand over, an amicable settlement being expected.

Following the imposition of penal fares, the claimants brought action against the City Council last August for their concerns to be taken over. This was opposed by the corporation on the ground that the buses were not in substantial competition with the trams. The decision (as in the case of the Royal buses) went against the council, and the buses were taken over. The compensation claim which ended this morning has entailed a hearing lasting over four full days. A mass of technical evidence was called on both sides, claimants seeking to justify their estimates of £34,495 and £8500 respectively. The offer of the tramways department of the City Council for the full fleet of 44 vehicles was approximately £13,000. The corporation offered strong opposition to the claimants' valuation, objecting to the demand in respect of the lease of the G.O.C. garage as well as to the general estimate for vehicles and plant. The difference in the valuations will be realised from the fact that it represented the sum of nearly £30,000.

The Court sat until nearly six o'clock last evening, and it was much later before the president and assessors arrived at their decision. This, said Judge Herdman to-day, was unanimous. They awarded interest at 6 per cent on each sum from August 14 (the date of the decision of the Court by which the buses were taken over), until the date of payment. Each party will pay its own assessor's fees—ten guineas as for 11 days in respect of the major claim, and five guineas as for 11 days for the minor. The Hon. E. W. Alison' was assessor for the claimants, and Mr. G. R. Hutchinson for the corporation. The Court was formally adjourned for a week over the question of costs. Mr. A. H. Johnstone, counsel for the corporation, and Mr. Armstead, on behalf of the claimants, stated that there ■was little doubt of an amicable settlement being arrived at.