SPECIAL RATING

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 157, 30 March 1926, Page 5

SPECIAL RATING

WHEN IS LAND ACQUIRED?

CLAIM AGAINST CROWN FAILS Reserved judgment was given in the Supreme Court yesterday by His Honour the Chief Justice, in an originating summons m which the parties were the Mayor, councillors, and burgesses of the bprough of Stratford, plaintiff, and His Majesty the King defendant. At the hearing Mr. T F. Martin appeared for plaintiffs, and Mr. A. Fair, K.C., (Solicitor-General) for the Crown The Crown was the owner oi certain freehold land in Stratford known as the Railway Reserve, subject to certain leases to several lessees, who were occupiers” within the meaning ol tne Act- The council made a special rate, tinder the Act of 1913, to piovide the annual charges upon a special loan o £15,000; and the lessees of the projierb from the Crown were properly rated The leases expired on March 31, and the Crown subsequently gave the occupation of the property to the 1 eiegrapli Department as from September i, 1920; and such occupation is still continued. The borough demanded payment of the special rate from the Crown for the year which commenced on April 1 1923, and ended on March 31, 1.124 . and claimed that the rate was payable by the Crown under section 112 of the Act, upon the ground that, upon the expiration of the leases from the Crown, the Crown acquired the property within the meaning of section H2, and became liable for payment of such rati durin gthe year in question, there iemg no occupier of the land within the meaning of the Rating Act. The Decision. i my opinion,” said His Honour, “this claim cannot be supported. It is common ground that, apart from section 112, the* Crown is not liable tor payment of the special rate in question ; but it is contended that because of the expirv of the terms of the leases granted bv th» Crown, the Crown has acquired possession, or the riprnt of possession, of the land within the lannare of section 112. The purpose of the section is plain. It was to continue the charge of the special fate upon any land subject to the special rate which the Crown should after the making ol such special rate acquire. The word ‘acquire’ has no technical meaning, and must be interpreted according to its ordinary signification. To acquire land must mean to obtain or cfiiin some property or interest therein which had not previous!v been owned or possessed by the person said to acquire the land In the present case all that happened was that leasehold interests existing in the land at the time of the making of the special rate have since expired, and the right of the Crown to possession of the land ipsr facto, has arisen on the cessation of the terms of the leases by reason of the Crown’s ownership of the fee simple Tn no sense can the Crown be said to have acquired an interest in the land not existing at the time of the making of the special rate. I think both th." language of section 112 and the purposes for which it was enacted necessitate the rejection of plaintiff corporation’s claim. All I have to. do is to decide the question raised in the originating summons. It would be improper to attempt, even if it were desirable, an exhaustive statement of the events relating to the determination of a leasehold interest in land which might constitute an acquisition of land Airing the term of a lease. I therefore answer the question put in the originating summons in the negative. The Crown .will be entitled as against plaintiff corporation to the costs of the argument, which I fix at £lO 10s.”