Court of Appeal finds for Sounds man

Press, 17 July 1980, Page 2

Court of Appeal finds for Sounds man

Parliamentary reporter A Marlborough Sounds boat'builder, Mr H; B. Saunders, did -not -build his house within the limits of the marine reserve, the Court of Appeal has decided. By a majority decision, the Court allowed Mr Saunders’s.' appeal -.against a decision of Mr Justice Jeffries in the High Court last vear.

The intialy action was brought by ’ the Commissioner of Crown Lands in Marlborough (Mr I. B. Mitchell). Mr Justice Richmond and Mr Justice Woodhouse found for Mr* Saunders and Mr Justice (Sooke supported the High CouFt decision. Mr Mitchell, brought -the action alleging that Mr Saunders was in the process of building a house at

Onopopiti. Bay, commonly called Jacksons Bay, part of Arapawa Island on the western side of Tory Channel. ■ Mr Mitchell alleged that this house encroached in part on to the recreational reserve fronting Mr Saunders’s. property. The argument in both the High Court and tne Court of Appeal, turned on 'whether a survey of 1866 defining the high water mark was indeed of the high water mark as that term had legal meaning today. . . ■ • “ The majority decision of the Court was . tnat the meaning of the use of the term in 1866 was' not clear and - that the survey done then did not accurately define what was meant by the term today. •.