CLAIM FOR £17,244

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1939, Page 11

CLAIM FOR £17,244

TAKING OF LAND

HUTT RECLAMATION WORK

OWNED SINCE. 1884

"The Court has before it the interesting spectacle of a piece of important property that has been held by the family of one of the early pioneers from 1884 until it was taken from them :by the Government in 1937," said Mr. ;P. B. Cooke, K.C., in the Compensation Court today, when opening a claim for £17,244 for compensation for land taken by proclamation for reclamation at the estuary of the Hutt i River. Originally, the claim was for £23,744, compensation of £5000 .»nd £1500 being sought for loss of drainage and loss of marketability respectively; but an easement handed into Court today settled those two items. ! Mr.. Justice Blair presided, with him as assessors being Mr. F. W. Furkert and Mr. H. F. O'Leary. K.C. The parties were Alexander Kenneth ! Scobie Mackenzie and Cheviot Wellington Dillon Bell, solicitors, as registered proprietors, and Mrs. Margaret Sara ! Johnston, wife of Mr. Justice Johnston, ;Mrs. Iris Brenda Rolleston, widow, of Wellington (temporarily in England), Miss Beatrix Enid Bell, of Wellington | (temporarily in England), Mrs. Violet Caroline Denniston, of Wanganui, and C. W. D. Bell, as beneficial owners, against the Minister of Public Works. i Mr. Cooke, with him Mr. R. C. I Christie, appeared for the plaintiffs, : I and Mr. A. E. Currie, with him Mr. j •C. H. Rogers, for the Crown. j l The land,' consisting of 21 acres 2 roods 8.8 perches, was taken by proclamation dated October 9, 1937, for harbour reclamation works at the estuary of the Hutt River, and compensation was claimed at £800 an acre. Mr. Cooke said the late Sir Francis Dillon Bell first saw the land in 1875, when people used to walk along the beach in front of it on their way to the Wairarapa. In 1884 Sir Francis and W. H. Levin bought from Sinclair and Mowlem about 550 acres of land, which included .the hills and flat in Lowry Bay proper and a flat of ap- . proximately 40 acres at Waiwetu, then known as Cramp's Paddock. The land taken by proclamation was 21 acres of Cramp's Paddock. The 550 acres, excepting about 14 acres, subsequently became vested in the Caroline Bell trustees, and Cramp's Paddock, less certain portions that had been sold, was still vested in the trustees when it was taken by the proclamation. On July 29, 1937, continued Mr. Cooke, the' Public Works Department approached Mr. Bell for permission to run a tramline over the 21-acre block for the purpose of taking1 spoil from a quarry. From the Department's viewpoint the matter was urgent, and Mr. Bell gave permission, the arrangement being that compensation would consist of filling to be placed on part of the land. It was arranged that they should meet again to decide what spoil should be put on the land for the -use of the tramline t for j eighteen months. "A meeting was held, on the land on August 16, and Mr. Bell was asked to put his proposals in writing, Mr. ' Bell was not able to do that .immediately becavise of other business, but it did not seem to matter much whether he did or not, because the next he ' knew was,a peremptory letter from the ] Department telling him that the land was to be taken. In order to make -the land ready for ■ building on it had to be filled, said Mr. ! Cooke. It was claimed that a certain amount of filling should have been put j on by the Crown under the previous - agreement: they started to put the < tramline in, and then guillotined the < agreement. It was contended that 1 credit must be given for the filling. The fair way to assess the value,Jt was submitted, was to take the land as filled land, and then deduct the cost of filling. Mr. Cooke detailed several letters that passed between Mr. Bell and the Department, and said finality was not reached until Mr. Bell wr.ote and said that although it,was nearly a year since the land had been taken he had received no offer of compensation, as required by the Public Works Act, 1928. That was on September 7, 1938, and on September 30 the Department offered him. £5000 in full and final settlement. The case is proceeding. 1