LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1141, 31 May 1911, Page 3

LAW REPORTS.

SUPREME COURT. THE LEASE OF THE TROCADERO. CLAIM AGAINST ASSIGNEE. A sequel to the bankruptcy of George Piimouk, liolellvTOiK'r, occuinwl tlio atteution oi Jlr. Justice .Sim, lutne buiirciuc Court, vostei'diiv inoriiiiii,'. I'innuek had leased tnq hotel from Messrs. (.iilnier and iMnguire, and shortly bi-lore his bniiKruiucy, .Marcii IiJIU, ho sub-leased it to Jlis. tflien (JocUayiu , , who then became the tenant of the Ollleial Assignee. Dillicultirs arose, and the Assignee lately sued ilrs. Cockayne in the Supreme Court for X5Kt lor rent. This was not defended, ami judgment was entered for the pliiiutitV last week. Mrs. Coeknyne, howuicr, iiled a counter-claim for .Willi in icspect of alleged damages caused by bugs 'which were said to have infested portions of Ihe house when she took it over and by the occasional llocding of some of the room? by vain-water. This was the action which was heard l>v Mr. Justice Sim yesterday. Mr. JO. C. Levvey appeared for the plaintiff and Jlr. W. H. D. Jicll for the Official Assignee.

Mr. Levvcy, in opeiiing, mentioned that he only came into the case last week, and did not know why the claim for rent was not defended. The plaintiff was still renting the- Trocadero, and it was now, through her own exertion?, free from vermin and from the rain-water trouble. Elizabeth Bvans, a daughter .of the plaintiff, said she had been with lier ever since she took the Trocndcro as cashier, bookkeeper, etc. Twenty rooms in the hotel were at first infested with vermin, and boarders would not stay in them, and she had to return the money. They succeeded in exterminating the vermin in about three months. She estimated the. loss to her mother at ,£SOO, each room being worth 3. r >s. a week. They i had had no trouble of the kind since they exterminated the vermin. She also 'gave evidence as to rainwater- getting into a large number of rooms, and doing damage. This affected twenty rooms, and prevented letting them. This defect was not remedied until after last November. She estimated the loss from this cause at another JSriOO. They had to turn people niray. The gross takings were £174 more in April 19, 1911, than in April. 1910. They liad to renew some of the furniture owing to damage from the "■To'Mr. Bill: They discovered the bugs two days after coming into the house. The trouble with the rain-water began three weeks or a month after they came in. The tariff at the Trocadero was 355. a \vc3k, including beard. Henry Edward Manning, master builder, Wellington, gave evidence as to the entry of rain-water. Corroborative evidence was given by Charles Reginald Storer, porter, and several persons who had boarded at tho hotel. . The plaintiff also cave evidence, and mT(I that being unable to let the rooms was Uie reason why she fell behind with fhe rent. Sinco the defects were remedied, the House had been practically full. Mr. Bell, for the Official Assignee, submitted that the plaintiff, who took the hotel before (lie bankruptcy, asked the Official Assignee to allow her lease to continue after she had discovered tho bugs,, and again made n similar application after the trouble with tho rain-water had broomo manifest. She was, it thus appeared, anxious to retain the Trocadero, oven when she knew all aljout the vermin and the leakages.' Later negotiations amounted to a compromise, in which she had waived any claim for damages.

Evidence was c-illert l).v 3lr. Bell in suiißort of tiic.-s onnteniion?. Aftr-r counsel had nddresscd the Court, his Honour reserved judgment.

THE RIGHT TO LIGHT. A CASE OF SOME INTEREST. ■■-. /The right of an occupier to object to any obstruction to'window lighting was the subject of a legal argument in Banco at the Supremo Court on Thursday before his Honour the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout). The plaintiff in tho case is Walter Smart, a pawnbroker, and Robert Lionel Levin, the defendant. Mr. A. Dunn appeared for plaintiff, and. Mr. G. H. Fell for the defendant. Judgment was given yesterday. Tho plaintiff is tho owner of a property near the corner of Willis Street, Wellington, and Old Customhouse Street. The only means of lighting the room at the back of tlip building is, according to tho plaintiff, a window. The defendant had agreed to sell an adjoining section lit the corner of tho two streets mentioned, and the purchaser proposed to erect a building, the'wall of which would completely block the window and prevent an access of light. An injunction restraining defendant from interfering with plnintiif's enjoyment of tho light was applied for. The defendant said that neither of tho certificates of title was subject to or included'any casement or right to the light. The following points wore raised: Does the statement of claim disclose the

cause of action against the defendant? Does the claim disclose that the plaintiff

is entitled to the right of access cr use of light over the land?

A counter-claim was filed by the defendant which set out that on or about October 17, 1910, the plaintiff had lodged n. caveat against the land of the defendant forbidding the registration of any memorandum of transfer; that the defendant had sold his land and the memorandum of transfer could not be registered so long as the caveat remained in force; that the caveat was lodged without reasonable cause, and tho defendant had suffered damage and expense. He therefore counter-claimed .£SO.

His Honour, in summing up a length.y judgment, held that plaintiff's statement of claim did not disclose a cause of action. Judgment was accordingly given for defendant with costs on tho middle scale.

POWER .TO BORROW. THE TARADALE TOWN BOARD. Judgment was given iu the caso Taradalo '.Town Board (near Napier), plaintiffs, and the A.M.1 , . Society, defendants.. Plaintiffs sought by way or an originating summons to have defined the powers of a town board to borrow moneys for certain purposss. Mr. H. p. Hell, K.C., with him Mr. E. J. Fitzgibbon, appeared for tho Town Board, and Mr. Martin Chapman, K.G., with him Mr. H. F. O'Leary, for tho society. Tho board applied for a declaratory ordei determining whether or not the board was validly empowered to raise by special loan, moneys for the purpose of erecting and furnishing buildings to bo used as a. town hall, library, and board offices. The ratepayers had, by a majority at a poll, approved of the loan. The society had agreed to lend the money when it was settled that tho board had power to borrow. His Honour the Chief Justice, in a reserved judgment, held that the board had power to borrow the moneys for the purposes mentioned. CAUSES IN DIVORCE, His Honour tho Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout) dealt with a number of undefended divorce suits yesterday, decrees nisi being granted in each of the following cases:—. Isabel Francis Sophie B. C. Scale, petition for dissolution of marriage with Wilfred Harry Scale, clerk, of Wellington, on the ground of misconduct. Mr. A. L. Hnrdman appeared for petitioner. Ethel Annie Johnson, a petition for divorce from Frederick Alban Johnston. Mr. Wilford appeared for petitioner, and Mr. A. Dunn watched tho case for Iho respondent. Henry Dwnrbnr Dodson v. Mercy nester Do'dson iiml Fred Chapman. Mr. Wilford appeared for.petitioner. Milly Connor v. F.dwin Connor, on tho ground of desertion. Mr. Wilford appeared for petitioner. Cornelius Denny v. Jessie Denny and Harry Ford, on tho ground of misconduct Mr. Wilford was for petitioner. Stanley James Beattie v. Ella Benttie, on the ground of desertion. Mr. Wilford appeared for petitioner. Harold Wilkinson v. Lucy Martha Wilkinson and James Paton, engineer oMhe 5,p. Ruapchii (co-respondent). Mr. Tilford for petitioner. . Kosa Ann Oxley v. Adolphus Oxley. i Millicent Anna Collins v. William John Collins, on the ground of desertion, Mr. 1 .Wilford for jjetitiona*.