THE ONEKAKA CASE

Evening Star, Issue 25941, 5 November 1946, Page 4

THE ONEKAKA CASE

HEAVY. CLAIMS AGAINST CROWN

PROTRACTED LITIGATION

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 4. A new stage in the protracted litigation known as the Onekaka case began before Mr Justice Blair and the six assessors as a Compensation Court to deal with the ' claims ■ against the Crown by Pacific Steel Ltd. and against the Minister of Works and Minister of Industries and Commerce for £375,000 by the liquidators of the Onekaka Iron and Steel Company, by the receivers for its debenture holders for £148,560 for losses due to action by the Crown, and alternatively, £200,000, 'and thirdly by the Golden Bay Proprietary, with the executors of two personal estates for £76,000. The, hearing is expected to take five or six weeks.'

Mr W. J. Sim, K.C., for Pacific Steel, said the company had approached the court on the footing of showing that its commercial venture was interfered with and destroyed at a moment when it was'coming to fruition. The destruction w r as of a composite concern, the value of which could not be properly assessed by taking each part piecemeal. The loss or damage was the maximum of the claim as a saleable undertaking, taking into account all the potential value and loss in the prospective selling value at the time of the passing of the Act, less the commitments in respect to it; The general considerations forming the background of the claim were that the promoters always intended to court world markets, the fact of the value of the undertaking in London, and that during all the relevant years the steel demand and the market were rising. There was always the background that the New -Zealand Government, after cautious consideration, accepted the venture with a considerable degree of optimism. It was now clear, he said, that the passing of the Act caused a frustration of the contract of purchase. The court adjourned till to-morrow.