GOODS LOST IN HOTEL FIRE

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26393, 11 April 1951, Page 8

GOODS LOST IN HOTEL FIRE

GUEST’S CLAIM FOR DAMAGES

MAGISTRATE FINDS FOR PROPRIETOR (New Zealand. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 10. The claim of a guest against a hotel proprietor for the loss of goods in the fire which destroyed the Lake Hotel. Taupo, on December 29, 1949, was disallowed by Mr J. H. Luxford. S.M.. in a reserved judgment. The amount sought was £3O representing personal clothing, chattels, and money. The plaintiff was Wilfred Edward Simpson, company director, of Wellington (Mr Connell), and the defendant was Gallagher Properties, Ltd. (Mr Haggit). “Strange as it seems, this question has not been dealt with in any reported case except one in New South Wales in 1903,” Mr Luxford said. He explained that in the case before him the total value of Simpson's belongings was £129 ss. Simpson admitted that as he had not deposited any of the property with the licensee for safe custody he could not recover more than £3O fixed as an innkeeper’s liability under the Licensing Act, 1908. In a somewhat similar case in 1931 an English judge said: “I can find no case in which an innkeeper has been held, liable for injury to goods as opposed to loss of goods, unless default on the part of the innkeeper can be Droved.” Mr Luxford added that “loss of goods” meant loss of goods by subtraction. “In my opinion.” the Magistrate said, "the quantum of injury or damage is immaterial, even when it causes the identity of the goods to be wholly lost.” For the foregoing reasons the claim would fail.