FAIR RENTS ACT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 256, 27 July 1939, Page 8

FAIR RENTS ACT

Application To Business Premises Opposed PETITION BY OWNERS Interference With Private Contracts The rejection by Parliament of any proposal to bring business premises' within the scope of the Fair Rents Act is urged in a petition presented in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. Endean (Opposition, Remuera). The petition, which contains 2070 signatures, is signed by business property-owners in all parts of New Zealand. Petitioners state that they are the owners of freehold or leasehold estates in premises used for business purposes, including shops, warehouses, offices, factories, hotels, boardinghouses and residential flats. They strongly urge Parliament to recognize and continue their legal rights to bold and manage their properties free from any legislative restrictions, and to reject any proposal to bring business premises within the scope of the Fair Rents Act or any similar legislation. Any such legislative interference, the petitioners state, would be a violation of their titles as freeholders and leaseholders and amount to partial confiscation. The only way to determine what was a fair rental for business premises was to ascertain what in the ordinary course of business a business man, firm or company was prepared to pay for them. Those engaged in business were capable of handling their own affairs, and of making their own contracts, and nothing short of a grave national emergency, affecting the well-being of the State, could excuse interference by legislation with the sanctity of private contract.