COURT OF APPEAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CI, Issue 11901, 26 May 1899, Page 5

COURT OF APPEAL.

— ■ -■ [Pee Press Association,] WELLINGTON, May 25. In the Appeal Court judgment was given in the case of the Commissioner of Taxes v. the Kauri Timber Company. The Court held that in the cases in dispute the defendant company had in each case an interest amounting to a leasehold interest in the land, and tliat the plaintiff was therefore entitled to judgment, with costs on the highest scale. The Court granted a new trial in the case of the General Exploration Company v. Purser, on the ground that the verdict for the defendant, given at Blenheim, was against the weight of evidence. The new trial was ordered to take place in Wellington. Counsel for the defendant applied for leave to appeal to the Privy Council. The question was argued and judgment reserved. The Court, however, intimated tliat it would not in any case postpone the new trial pending the appeal. In. the case of Fleming v. the Bank of New Zealand the Court held that it had no power to grant a certificate that the case was a proper one for a special jury, as that could be done only by the judge at the trial immediately after the verdict. In the Appeal Court, in the case Sampson v. Williams, a bankrupt, the Court held that the claimant, a sub-contractor, was entitled to enforce a lien under the Contractors’ and Workmen’s Lien Act, 1892, against the owner of the land on which a building was being erected, and against the bum and building itself, notwithstanding the bankruptcy of the head contractor. Judgment, therefore, was given lor th;claimant with costs. Leave to appeal to the Privy Council was granted in the case Staples and Company v. Corby, the injunction to stand in the meantime, tire plaintiff company giving an undertaking as to damages in the event of the appeal succeeding.