CLOSING OF RAILWAY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27911, 7 March 1956, Page 14

CLOSING OF RAILWAY

DAMAGES CLAIMED BY SAWMILLERS APPLICATION FOR HEARING ADJOURNED • (New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, March 6. An application for a fixture for the hearing of the claim of two Nelson sawmillers for £17.362 5s damages for alleged loss suffered in the closing of the Nelson-Glcnhope railway and future loss if the railway was demolished or dismantled or if the closing continued, was adjourned by Mr Justice Turner in the Supreme Court at Nelson this morning. Mr Justice Turner said he was not prepared to make a decision until it was decided whether the case would be heard by a judge and jury or judge alone and the place it was to be heard was fixed. The adjourned application, he explained, could Ije brought before a judge in Wellington by either side by giving seven days’ notice after those two points had been decided. At a hearing at Wellington recently. Mr Justice Gresson reserved his decision on a motion by the sawmillers to have the action tried before a judge and jury. The place of hearing. Wellington or Nelson, is also a matter of argument between the plaintiffs and defendants. Mr E. J. S. Crutchley, for the plaintiffs. John Ralston Dick, manager, and Robert Thomas Sauer, director, both of Hope, carrying on business in partnership as sawmillers under the name of the Valetta Timber Company, said he was making the application to eliminate any delay in hearing the claim. The application was opposed by Mr G. H. Brodie, representing the first defendant, the Attorney Genera], and the second defendants. Wilfred Evelyn Hndees (Lower Hutt), Richard Martin (Wellington*. Charles Herbert Bray (Auckland* and William Leonard Wyber (Auckland*, members of the New Zealand Railways Commission.