BIG SUM INVOLVED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 81, 3 October 1910, Page 8

BIG SUM INVOLVED.

QUARTER OF A MILLION ENDOWMENT. WHO GETS THE RENTS? COURT OF APPEAL'S AID SOUGHT In the matter of the Auckland Education Board v. the Public Trustee — concerning the rents of 1£ acres in the centre of Auckland, with about £250,000— the Court of Appeal to-day was asked under the Declaratory Judgments Act to elucidate the tangle of law in which the property, and rbs rents and profits are involved. The property is vested in the Public Trustee, and it was allowed by by statute (as stated below) to be mortgaged by the Auckland Hospital Aid Board, along with its reserves, and the surplus income after paying off annually a number of debentures went to the Auckland Hospital Board — an interested body. The Auckland Hospitals Reserves Act, 1883, provided that after the debentures had been repaid^ the reserve shonld levert to the Public Trustee for the purpose of general education. This left ppen the question whether the Education Board or the department took the rents. By a later act it would appear as if the reversion weai to the Auckland Hospital «nd Charitable Aid Board. The matter was before Mr. Justice Edwards in Auckland, when the Education Board took out an originating summons, with the Public Trustee as (defendant), but the court ordered it to be served on the Minister for Education and the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, as they were parties actively interested. The Public Trustee submitted to the order of the court. Today s proceedings were the general outcome. The following were on the Bench : His Honour the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, and their Honours Justices Williams, Edwards, Cooner. and Chapman. Mr. J. R. Reed represented ihe Auckland Education Board; Mr. J. W. Salmond, Solicitor-General, the Public Trustee and Minister for Education; Mr. A. Turnbull, the Auckland Grammar School; and Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., with' him Mr. K. M'Veagh, th« Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. Mr. Beed outlined the facts relevant for the court's jndgment. The land is Kti estate in the heart of Queen-street, Auckland, and vested in the Public Trustee for leasing purposes. By an Act of 1875 its revenues were set apart for purposes of general education, but there was an amending Act later, which permitted the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board to include the estate in the securities for a loan. In 1864, under the Supreme Court Sites Act, the Auckland Provincial Council authorised the payment of a sum of £25,000 to the General Government for purchase of a piece-of land in the centre of Auckland. That piece of land was originally the ate of the old Supreme Court and gaol in Auckland. "I believe that murderers were hanged there/ added counsel. The land is about one acre and a half in extent, and was valued now at about £250.000. Mr. Justice Cooper pointed out that after the court and gaol were removed there was a market place cm the site for a long time. The graves of at least five criminals who weTe executed were there. Continuing, Mr. Beed said the land was purchased as authorised, and the Crown grant was issued. Two Acts dealt with the particular site — the Public Buildings Act, 1875, which authorised certain commissioners to raise a sum of money — in the aggregate, £5000 — upon the security of this land and a number of other allotments. There was also the Supreme Court Sites Leasing Act of 1875. The Chief Justice : It all comes back to the Supreme Court Sites Leasing Act and the Public Buildings Act, 1875. Mr. Reed agreed. The loan authorised waß toT>e expended on the Hospital Board and Auckland Education Board. The Public Buildings Act, 1875, was repealed by a statute of lie General Assembly the following year — the Auckland Public Boards Act, 1876 — which reduced the sum that might be raised under the previous Act to £25,000. The money was to be expanded in building equipment, management of the Board of Education, and the Auckland Hospital Board. This was how things stood at the time of the passing of the Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875. This Act had two sections which affected the purchase before mentioned : section 9, under which the lands and proper ties, etc., were vested in Her Majesty the Queen, and section 10, which dealt with the property vested in the Board of Education. The Chief Jnstice : In whom do you contend that the land was vested in 1876? Mt. Beed : By the Act I have just quoted, in the Queen. That Act came into force on the last day of November, 1876. The Chief Justice expressed the opinion that that Act did not touch the question of the powers vested in the commissioners at all. Mr. Reed submitted that the Act directly^ undex notice and the Abolition of Provinces Act, in conjunction, affected the vesting. Mr. J. W. Salmond pointed out that it was not intended to argue that there had been any specific vesting of the lands in tho commiasdoners. (Proceeding.) Owners and trainers are notified that acceptances for the Otaki Maori Racing Club's Spring Meeting are due at 8.30 p.m. to-mc?row. The Otaki Telegraph Office closes at 5 p.m. Plans for the line of the Waipa Railway and Collieries, Ltd., a Wellington enterprise are now completed by Mr. Ashley Hunter, and will shortly come before the board of directors. The line will connect the company's property with the Main Trunk line at Ngaruawabia. It will be of the Government railway gauge, and will be about six miles in length, and will cross the Waipa River at Ngaruawahia. The coal is proposed to be marketed in Auckland, 74 miles from Ngaraawahia, and all along the route to Wellington. The estimated cost of the line and equipment was £30,000. One of the more interesting cases that are set down for the judgment of the Court of Appeal was mentioned by Mr. C. P. Skerrett, KUD., this morning, zhen tho court eat for the first time this session. The case is one in which Gualter, Dyket>, and Co., stock and share-brokers, sued Andrew Beggs, storekeeper, for a sum. of money in connection with a sharebroking transaction, and the plaintiffs were nonsuited in. the Magistrate's Court by Mr. W. R. llaselden, S.M., on technical points. When asking that the Full Court should hear the appeal, Mr. Skerrett said the case was one of considerable interest to the community. There had been no distinction made in the two caoses of action ; hence tho appeal. His Honour Mr. Justice Edwards agreed that it certainly "was an interesting and important case. The case will be taken in due course. A plain and fancy dress and poster carnival will be held at the Palace, gjkat--1 igß-Rink,. 2ftenz,rtsms&.