COMPENSATION CLAIM.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 233, 2 October 1928, Page 5

COMPENSATION CLAIM.

NATIVE LAND FQH CAN AX, CEMENT COMPANY SUED. (By Telegraph.—Owa Correspondent.) WHANGAREI, tfcis day. The Tokerau Land Court was occupied all day yesterday in hearing an application for an assessment ©f compensation lor land which the Portland Cement Company used to construct the main canal from ahove the Wajrua Falls to the spillway at the present power station. The natives interested in the block concerned have frequently put their abjections before the company and the Whangarei County Council. In the event of an agreement not being reached the natives intend renewing their application for an injunction to prevent the Whangarei Borough Coiiflejl and Wilson's Portland Cement Company from using the spillway station. Counsel for the company contended that the Court could only deal with tjie value of the land, not with its us? since the date of the first occupation. Judge Acheson demurred, quoting authority for the procedure. Mr. L. \V. Parorc, for the natives, asserted that the company went on to the land "under a big bluff," presumably having some arrangement with the County Council. The natives were entitled to rent and compensation for the use of their lands, The case was adjourned until to-day, when the addresses of counsel were heard.