RATING ACT PROBLEM

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 75, 29 March 1926, Page 11

RATING ACT PROBLEM

| COSTS AWARDED TO CROWN

I NOT "ACQUIRED INTEREST."

■| 'A reserved decision given by his 1 Honour the Chief'^Justice in the Sujjj premo Court to-day. :: is pf interest to •S local bodies and others. The parties | in the case were tile/Mayor, Councillors,, a an<£'Burgcsses:of the Borough of Strat- ;«! ford, plaintiffs, and:'H.M.'the.King,.de- | f enfant. At the hearing Mr. T. F; MarU tin^iappeared for the plaintiffs, and the | Solkitor-General (Mr. A. Fair, K.C.) ;f for v ;tho Crown. /.,.. ■I The Crown was' the owner of frcej;| holdjland in the borough of Stratford, j subject to leases to several lessees, "oe*j cupjers" in the meaning of the Act. rij .The borough •council- struck a special i rate to provide for-a loan,, of £.15,000 *| t or*which the lessees were-properly rat- ?] ed.,,Ori the expiry of the leases in 1920, ij the.; Crown gave ' occupation to the it Telegraph Department. The borough ;-| demanded payment by the Crown of the ti special rate for the year 1923-1924 on ■^ the ground that the Crown had acquir- « ed the property in the meaning of sec- ■* 3 tion 112 of the Local Bodies Loans 1| Act of 1913, which, sajrs:— i 5 "In any case where land liable to any special rate is" acquired by the ;,| Crowns* the Crown 'shall be liable for >(■ payment of such fate.for any yeai\durii ingiwhich there is no occupier of the A land within the meaning 'of the Bating 8 Act of 1908." „ ;' . j| TJJRPqSE OF SECTION PLAIN, I3j 'Tfh. my opinion,'' says his Honbur, ■■! "this claim cannot be supported. It is ij common ground that, i apart from sectionr 112, the Crown-is not liable for ;j! payment of the special rate in question; ?| buWt iscontended that because of the .;i expiry of the terms of the leases grant-,* uj ecUly the Crown ,-the Crown has acjj quired possession,, or the right to pos- ">| session, of • the land -within the lan'i gus%e of section 112. The purpose of the j section is plain.* It was to continue jij thtf-charge of the special rate upon any ;*i land subject to the special rate' which. y the' Crown should -.'after the msiking of i eueii special rate acquire. The word V "acquire" has no technical meaning, £ and/must be interpreted according to .-" itß.'ordinary signification. To acquire y land must mean to obtain or gain some H property or interest'therein which had V npt,TPreviously been owned or posscss- < ed .'by the-person said to acquire the '''. lanfl.' In the present-casß all that hap'i pansd. was that leasehold interests ex- \'- ist&g in tho. land at the time of the t making of the special :rate have since *• expired and.the 'right.of the Crown to -. possession of the land'ipso facto has T,{ arisen.on the: cessation of the tetms. "i. of the leases by reason of the Crown's r' ownership of the fe.e'siinple. In no sense v varf the Crown he. said to have ae- •' quired an interest .iii" the land .not existing at the time of the. making of the '■*'special rate. I 1 think: both tho language v- of'-.se.ctipn 112 and".the' purposes for ;'j •which it was' enacted, necessitate the. :ii -rejection of the plaintiff; Corporation's >r claifn. AIM have vtootlo is to decide v| thequeation raised- in the Originating ' I Bummoni. It would ,be improper to '*? attempt, even if it wore desirable, an fi exhaustive statement of the events ro■i\ lating to the determination of a lease\l hold interost in land which might con- >'] stitute an acquisition of land during *.-'. the'term of a lease.-I therefore answer 'd the question put in the Originating J Summons in the negative. The Crown -I "will be entitled as'rigainst the plaintiff ' Corporation to the costs of the arguM ment t which I.flx a*. £10 10s."