LEGAL INQUIRY COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 234, 3 October 1935, Page 13

LEGAL INQUIRY COLUMN.

(By BARRISTER-AT-LAW.)

[Letters of inquiry will be answered every week in this column. As far as possible they will be dealt with in the order in which they are received, and replies will be inserted with the least possible delay.] BONK.—If your neighbour's radio makes so much noise that, considering the time and place, it. is unreasonable, you may bring proceedings, either for damages or un injunction, or both. What is reasonable is a matter of fact and not of law, and the standard of the community as a whole is the test. If yc.u happen to be more sensitive to noise than other people that is your misfortune, and docs not give you any right against your neighbour. CANTERBURY. —Write to the RegistrarGeneral of Births, Wellington, and enclose a postal note for half a crown. Mention the date and year ot your birth and the town in which you were born. KATES. — (1) In the absence of agreement to the contrary the sub-lessee is liable for the rates. The fact that the sub lessor has paid rates in the past s some evidence that there is an agreement to the contrary, but you do not allege one. (2) You may be compelled to cut the blackberry. Q.A-.B. —Your letter does not make it clear why you claim that you need not pay the bill. The material supplied and tax 011 it are surely payable, as doubtless you actually have had the bcuelit of it. It is possible that the charge for service could not be sustained, but the onus is on you to prove that it was not perfo.-med or was performed uunskilfully. The amount claimed for service is too small to be worth contesting. WONDERING. —The relationship is that of tirst cousins. First cousins may marry. PHEASANT. —Your inquiry will be answered next week. F.J.B. — (1) A creditor is not bound to accept payment by instalments, but as a matter of common sense it i 6 usual to accept instalments where it is obviously impossible for the debtor to pay in one* sum. If you cannot pay the instalments asked pay wliat you can. an I. keep the payments up, and you will probably tind 110 action taken.- (21 You are not liable for expenses unless you are sued. OLD TIMER. —If you give up your woik you and your wife will both be entitled to an old- age pension. The amount would be about £35 per year each. The other pension would lapse. A.B.C. — (1) You can compel your neighbour to share the cost of a fence, but if you want an expensive fence you cannot compel your neighbour to contribute one half the cost if she objects to the type of fence. (2) If you are receiving 110 contribution from your neighbour you need not consult her as to the type of fence, but if you erect it exactly on the boundary the fence will become joint property, although built at your expense entirely. AUSSIE.—The decision which you quote should also extend to your case, but there is some considerable doubt as to whether the decision is good law and would be sustained in the Supreme Court. The council may decide to sue the late owner, and in that way the land will become liable for the full amount. No judgment can be signed for rates after the lapse of three years from the date when they tirst became due, so that if rates for 1932-33 have not yet been sued for the probability is that they cannot now be recovered at all. If, as meutioued above, the land is made liable, you will have to pay in order to clear your title. Yo.i should pay rates for which you are legally liable—that is rates which are not three years overdue —and as you are ji mortgagee you would be justiticd in withholding the penalty and awaiting the result. REGULAR SUBSCRIBER. —The whole of the property of the deceased, including jewellery, is committed Into the care of the trustees to divide in accordance with the provisions in the will. He must not divide the property in any other way without the consent of all concerned. HARD-UP COCKIE. —The judgment may be enforced by distress and sale of your goods, by attachment of moneys due to you or by sale of your land. SATISFACTION. —An interest in any loan raised by the council 011 security or otherwise does not disqualify a councillor from holding his seat. A.C.C.—The notice is sufficient. INDIGENT. —You cannot claim a pension retrospectively. 111 fact, if you are granted a pension you will lose the right to receive any one month's instalment if you do not claim it promptly. DIGGER.—The right to minerals depends on your title. In many cases the right to minerals is reserved by the Crown. TRUSTEE. —Unemployment tax is payable by persons ordinarily resident in New Zealand. If the beneficiary in question is not so resident you should inform the Tax Department accordingly. The proceeds of sale of assets of the estate are not income but capital, and are not taxable.