POSSESSION OF HOUSE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 September 1945, Page 2

POSSESSION OF HOUSE

RUNANGA OWNER’S CLAIM “You are only prepared to sit tight and demand your legal rights. Under the circumstances I think you should show more consideration to the plaintiff,” said the Magistrate, Mr G. G; Chisholm, S.M., to C. M. Nicholson, a clerk employed by the Public Works Department at Temuka, who was defendant in a claim for possession of a residence at 225 Church Street, heard at the Timaru Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The plaintiff was A. T. Ferguson, former mine manager, of Runanga. Ferguson, who was represented by Mr G. J. Walker, said that he had purchased the property in October, 1943, to bring his wife and invalid daughter to Timaru because the climate there would-be more beneficial to their health than that of the West Coast. He had agreed to let the house temporarily, for three to six months on condition the tenants vacated at a month’s notice. The purchaser- of the house he lived in at Runanga had been pressing for posesssion so Mrs Ferguson had found alternative accommodation for the defendant at Pleasant Point, but Nicholson would not accept it. Ferguson said he had been offered two rooms in a house in Church Street with the use of the kitchen and other conveniences and a shed in which defendant’s furniture could be stored until such time as the defendant was transferred to Christchurch as he expected to be in the near future. This offer had also been refused: Mr R. Stout, who appeared for Nicholson, said that’ the alternative accommodation at Pleasant Point was not acceptable, nor was the offer of sharing a house, which would cause much

The Magistrate: Sharing of houses does work in many cases if the I parties are prepared to co-operate. ■ Giving evidence, Nicholson assured the Court that he had made every I possible endeavour to find a house. He said he could not store his i'urni- : ture in the shed because it was a fowlhouse and the roof leaked. He expected to move to Christchurch soon, but the date was not definite. I The Magistrate: You knew when you went into the house that you . could only siay a few months as the ' landlord needed it, yet you are demanding your strict legal rights as 11 you had obtained the house in the ordinary way. With the prospect ot going to Christchurch 1 think there is less hardship in your case now than, there was when you went into the house. „ Fie then adjourned the case for a day to see the house himself and to decide whether there was sufficient accommodation for two families.