PUBLIC HEALTH ACT CHARGE

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28766, 11 December 1958, Page 23

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT CHARGE

Action By Council Against Department

fNew Zealand Press Association) ROTORUA, Dec. 10. The decision was reserved by Mr R. M. Grant, S.M., in a case heard in Rotorua yesterday, in which the Ratprua County Council proceeded against the Conservator of Wild Life for the Rotorua district, Mr B. A. Vercoe, on a charge of contravening the Public Health Act. The charge arose from the alleged failure to remove oxygen weed or Babbington’s curse from Lake Rotorua. The health inspector for the county council, Mr R. A. Hall, said he had had discussions with Mr Vereoe, and had written to him about the question of responsibility for removing the weed, but had not received a reply to his’ letter. Mr K. L. Sandford, of Hamilton, for Mr Vereoe, said that as Conservator of Wild Life he was in no way responsible for acts of a nature which was aggravated by water. His position as supervising officer of the lake was more or less confined to regulating the use of the lake. Mr Sandford submitted that the prosecution was ill-founded." The council need not have proceeded against a department, as had been done, but it could have sought , a mandatory injunction against the Attorney-General. It was unfortunate that a civil servant should be forced to face the possibility of a conviction. The notice from the council to Vereoe did not necessarily prove default, he said. ‘‘This is no small matter, and it should not be lightly dealt with, as possibly thousands of pounds will be involved,” Mr Sandford said. “It is obvious that this is a test case, but it is unfortunate that Vereoe should be the target. There is no case to answer because there is no proof of responsibility,” he said.