TIMARU RECLAIMED LAND.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18342, 27 March 1925, Page 6

TIMARU RECLAIMED LAND.

AN APPEAL COURT CASE,

(press association telesrax.) WELLINGTON, March 26. Under powers contained in the Timaru Harbour Board A*et, 1876, and the Amendment Act of 1881, the Timaru Harbour Board constructed a breakwater 534 ft long, running from the shore for some distance, for the purpose of protecting the basin for shipping. The shingle settled on the south side of the breakwater and raised a large portion of the old sea bed above high-water mark, part of which is used by the Harbour Board for harbour purposes, and part is open for leasing and is unoccupied. The Court of Appeal is engaged in hearing an appeal from the decision of Mr Justice Adams, who decided that parts of the reclaimed allotments open for leasing and unoccupied, are rateable. The Timaru Harbour Board, as the appellant, maintains that the land which has been vested in it is " harbour woTk" within the definition of that term in the Harbours Act, 1908. The Timaru Borough Council, as respondent, relics on a decision in the ease, Wellington City Council v. the Wellington Harbour Bowd (10 N.Z.L.K., 334), and contends that while the term "work" includes reclamation of land, such reclaimed land must be for harbour purposeß, and not simply for endowment before it is exempt from rates. Decision was reserved.