INTEREST PAYMENT RATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1933, Page 5

INTEREST PAYMENT RATE

PRIVY COUNCIL'S DECISION.

[PEE PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, December 19. The judgment of the Privy Council of far-reaching importance to local bodies, has been announced in the House of Lords, according to cabled advice received at. Wellington. The effect of the Privy Council’s ruling is to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of the Adelaide Electric Supply Coy. versus the Prudential Assurance. As in the Broken Hill case, the dispute arose over the question whether interest payments in London should be made in sterling or Australian currency. The Court of Appeal upheld the Adelaide company’s decision to pay in Australian currency. The Privy Council’s judgment, it is understood, declared that the judgment of Justice Maughan and Lord Hanworth in the Broken Hill case, was correct, and overruled the judgment of the majority in the Court of Appeal. The two local bodies in New Zealand which contested the position are the Auckland Transport Board and the Southland Electric Power Board. It is understood that the Privy Counwill seriously affect the Auckland Transport Board’s case, but the Southland Board, which is on the point of making arrangements with the Government, may not be affected.