MILKING MACHINES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 October 1924, Page 5

MILKING MACHINES.

ARE THEY CHATTELS? Yesterday the Court'of Appeal in Wellington made a fixture for Tuesday October 14, 1924, for. the hearing ot ■ ' the application of the D.O.A. (Mr. R. S. Sage) in the estate of T.' A. Bridge, 5 ■ for directions as to whether milking machines are chattels .belonging to the D.0.A., or whether they are fixtures . attached to the freehold and not remov- 1 v able except with the consent of 5 the mortgagee. The matter originally came before the Supreme Court, at New Plymouth, Mr. P. O’Dea acting -for the D.O.A. and Mr. J. Houston and Mr. L. A. Taylor acting for mortgagees whose interests were affected. The 1 Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout,-ordered the case to be removed before the Court of Appeal, as there were two diverse decisions given on the point by members of the Supreme Court Bench. A ' similar case has. been recently heard at Masterton, . where the International Harvester Company, who had let-a machine on the hire-purchase system; removed the plant when the mortgagor walked off the farm. They. -\ye re sued by the mortgagee, and the jury awarded damages against the company, but the question as to the law on the matter was reserved for the Court of Appeal, and both the Taranaki case and' the Masterton case will be heard together on the 14th inst. The question is a very important one in this district, where, as one milking machine, company asserts, over 90 per cent, of milking machines are let out on the hire-purchase system. Will the milk-, mg machine companies and the farmers’ finance companies finance their, companies with milking machines if the machines when erected belong to the' land and are not removable except with. . the consent of the owner of the land, ; or of the mortgagee if the land is en-"’ cumbered? This is the question which the Court of Appeal will decide. "