LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1293, 23 November 1911, Page 3

LAW REPORTS.

SUPREME COURT. TE-WHEKI STATION, CARTERTON. OWNER DECEASED. DID HE GIVE A VERBAL LEASE? Specific performance of a verbal agreement, made vritli a. person now deceased, was what was claimed by plaintiffs in an action heard in tho Supreme Court yesterday before tho Chief Juitico (Sir Robert Stoat). Tho parlies to the action were Georgo William Dcllcr and Robert Georgo Kernble, farmers, of Carterton, plaintiffs, and tho Public Trustee, as trustee of tho will of Charles Rooking Carter, deceased settler, of Carterton, defendant. Mr. E. F. lladfield appeared for plaintiff-, Deller and Kemble, and Mr. J. W. Macdonald for the Public Trustee. !t appeared' from tho proceedings that on February 15. 1895, Deller and Kemblc leased from the latci C. R. Carter 1980 acres of laud near Carterton, known as tho Te Wheki Station. The lease was for a pericd of 21 years, expiring on February 15, 1910, at ail annual rental of ,£2OO for tho tirst seven years, .6220 for the next seven years, and thereafter .£250. Deceased died on July 22, 189ti, and probate of his will was granted to tho Public Trustea. Deceased directed that out of tho residue of the estate a Home for Old Men should be erected in Carterton, the rents from To Wheki Station and otlier properties to be an endowment for iho uplice;) of Mich home. Deller and Kemble alleged that on or oiout March 31, 1596, Mr. Carter agreed verbally to execute to them a further lease of To Wheki Station for 21 years from February 15, 1010. Tho annual rental of this new lease, it was said, was (o bo JE29O for the first ten years, and i; 330 for the remaining eleven years of tho leas-?. Deller ana Kemblo claimed that on tho strength of this verbal agreement th;y had completed permanent 'improvements, including fencing, draining, and scrubbing to the value of .£B6B. Since 1893 the: had completed fnrther improvements to tho value of XGS3. They further statoi that tliey had applied to "Mr. Carter tj complete the agreement by executing an extended l°ase, but he had failed to uo so. Since the death of Mr. Carter tho Public Trustee had declined to extend tho lease ou the ground that there was no written contract, and ho would uot 1)0 justified in doing so rrdess ordered by tho Court as the present letting value of the land would be at least .CIOOO, as cornpa ry.l with .£290 under the proposed renewal. Plaintiffs Deller and Ivemble therefore asked the Court to order specific perfcrmanco of the agreement. A number of witnesses woTe tilled in support of tho plaintiffs' case, the evidence being to tho effect that tho improvements carried, out by Deller and Kemblc were superior and more expensive than were generally carried out for a twenty-one years' lease, and that Leller an I Kemble would suffer harls'iip if refuse a renewal of the lease. 11l order to get a ruling of the Court, tho Public Trustee defended tho action, and denied knowledge of the facts alleged by Deller and Kemble. As a further doJence, lie pleaded the Statute of Frauds of Charles 11, which provides that— "No action shall be brought whereby to chargo any person, upon any contract or. sale ot lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or any interest in or concerning, them unless, tho agre. ment upon which such action ,s brought, or some noic or'memorandum thereof, shall bo in writing and signed bj the party to be charged therewith or .->llllO other person on his behalf." The only witness called for the defence was J. \Y. Pointon, secretary of the Treasury, and formerly. Public trustee. His Honour reserved decision, and remarked that plaintiffs would no doubt suffer hardship by. a refusal of tho renewal, but it might not bo in the power of the Court to grant them relief.