RAILWAY SIDING RENTALS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20647, 9 September 1932, Page 10

RAILWAY SIDING RENTALS.

REDUCTION SOUGHT RY THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Asking for a reduction of railway Giding rentals by 30 per cent., under the terms of the National Expenditure Adjustment Act, a deputation from the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce waited upon the General Manager of Railways (Mr P, G. Roussell) on his arrival in Christchurch last night with .members of the New Zealand Railways Board. Mr Roussell agreed to place the chamber's representations before the Board. The i deputation comprised Messrs A. O. Wilkinson (president), A. F. Wright, H. S; E, Turner, T. N. Gibhs, and J. R. Smith (secretary). The Department's attitude on this question, which was explained by Mr Roussell, was that holders of private sidings were granted licenses and did not pay "rents" according to the terms of the Act. The Act applied to contracts "whereby any person undertakes to pay rent." This term when used in a statute had a definite legal meaning and did not*, according to the decisions of the Courts, signify a charge payable for the grant of a license. Tlip Act also applied to certain other fixed but these wero specified and did not include payments for licenses. The representatives of the chamber contended that private siding rentals were fixed charges, coming within the spirit, if not the letter, of the Act.