STATE HOUSING

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 6

STATE HOUSING

COMPENSATION FOR LAND

A WEST COAST BLOCK

_(By Telegraph-—Press Association.!

GREYMOUTH, June 6,

Compensation amounting to £7600 was awarded to Ellen Keeney, Cobden, on a claim for £9754 5s against the Minister of Public Works for loss arising from the taking of 34f acres 36 perches in Cobden for a State housing settlement. , The, claim was brought in the Assessment Court, presided over by Mr. Justice Northcroft, and the hearing lasted three days. v

The Court's award was for £8000. less £400 for' betterment to the remainder of Keeney's land. Costs 100 guineas and assessors' fees 140 guineas, with witnesses' expenses, were ordered to be paid by the Crown.-.

Mr. Justice Northcroft refused a request by". Mr. F. ?A;, Kitchingham, Crown Solicitor, to refer questions of law to the Supreme Court, as the request was made after the award was announced and not at the proper time.

Lengthy evidence was called stressing the shortage of suitable building sections in Greymouth and Cobden, and witnesses on both sides agreed that no other block of land.was available for subdivisional purposes as hear the centre of Greymouth as Keeney's.