RENT REDUCTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1933, Page 2

RENT REDUCTION

SOUGHT BY WOOLWORTHS.

[PKB PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, March 31. Th© Appeal Court to-day considered an appeal by Woolworth’s (New Zealand) Ltd., from a decision by Mr Justice Smith, exempting Charlton Greenway Dawson and Bertram Kendal Greenway Dawson (Auckland) from a 20 per cent reduction in the appellants’ rent, as required by the National Expenditure Adjustment Act. Evidence was brought before the Mortgagors’ Liabilities Adjustment Commission to show that after a substantial sum had been transferred to reserves, a dividend of 20 per cent, was paid by the appellants in 1930, and a dividend of 15 per cent, in The Commission, in refusing an application by the respondents for relief from the statutory reduction, expressed th© view that it was not the policy of the legislature to deny a tenant the benefit of the statutory reduction merely on the ground that he had run his business well, and could, without hardship afford to pay his rent without a reduction. Mr Justice Smith held that the rent was fair as between the parties. The object of the Statute, he said, was to reduce costs in order to assist lessees to meet their liabilities without difficulty, there was no ground for a reduction. The appeal is brought from this decision. Opening the case for the appellant, Mr Corhish said that the appellants had incurred a liability of £11,350 in purchasing the interests of sub-lessees before they had entered into possession of the respondents property. The respondents knew when the contract with the company was made that the company contemplated spending a large sum on improvements and that in 1935 the benefit of those improvements would pass to them. The fair rental value of the premises at the present time should not be'allowed to govern the application for relief. The condition of the premises when th© parties made the contract in 1929 was not only relevant, but was important, in arriving at a conclusion as to the fairness or otherwise of the present annual rental. The Court adjourned.