COMPANY FINED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22624, 29 April 1948, Page 4

COMPANY FINED

RENT OVERCHARGED REGULATIONS BROKEN For accepting sums of rent which were irrecoverable under the Economic Stabilisation Regulations 1942, Gisborne Theatres Ltd., (Mr. J. G. Nolan), who pleaded guilty, was convicted and fined £lO and costs, by Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M., when proceeded against by the Inspector of Factories in the Gisborne Magistrate’s Court yesterday. This was the first case of its kind to be heard in Gisborne in the five and a half years that the regulations had been in force, said Mr. C. P. Brookes, appearing for the inspector of factories. A plea of guilty was entered by the defendant company. The charge arose out of the renting of a shop in Peel street occupied by bootmakers. The basic rent in 1942 was £1 10s and this had been increased without authorisation to £3 10s last year, said Mr. Brookes. It was an offence to accept any sum which was irrecoverable, the maximum fine being £SOO. If the basic rent was not giving the landlords a fair rent they had means of redress, but none of these had been carried out.

Mr. Brookes asked for a penalty such as would deter other landlords from imposing extra rent without authority, as breaches of the regulations were difficult to detect. Mr. Nolan submitted that the basic rent undoubtedly was £1 10s per week and the company had made no attempt to sidestep the regulations. It had merely overlooked the matter of having the extra rent approved. He submitted that it was a breach of the regulations, but a pure oversight which did not call for a very severe penalty.