POLICE STATION NEXT DOOR.

Mataura Ensign, 15 December 1911, Page 5

POLICE STATION NEXT DOOR.

DEPRECIATION OF A HOUSE. I A second claim for damages agai.is'. hj: Receiver tor the Metropolitan Police District for the aliened depreciation of property through the erection of a police- station in Murray-road, North wood, came beforo the UnderShcriff of .Middlesex and a jury at the Westminister Palace Hotel on November 1. In the first case, heard 011 October 26, the plaintiff was awarded £75, and on November 1 William Henry Parker, dental surgeon, was awarded £220. Mr Ernest Pollock, K.C., M.P., appearing for the claimant, said that Mr Parker owned a house called Wytcott, in Murray-read. By the covenants in the leases the houses in the neighbourhood were to be used for residential purposes. Mr Parker exjiended £ISOO on his house, which was completed in the spring of 190 G. At. the end of that year the Metropolitan Police Receiver acquired a plot of land close by, and, in spite of a petition protesting against the erection of the station, be began the building in September 190!). Air Douglas Young, thought the advent of the police station had depreciated the claimant's home to the extent of £320. Mr Parker said that as a member of the Ratepayers' Association he signed a memorial to the Home Secretary asking for the erection of a police station at North wood, but lie had 110 idea that it would be erected close to his house. A police station next door t> a dentist' 9 was a distinct disadvantage. He a/d'ded: "My recreation is gardening, and I object to these cell windows and to hearing drunken people shouting and screaming and the barking of stray dogs kennelled in the police-station yard." Mr Edward Morten, K.C.. for the rciswndent, submitted that the erection iof the police station had improved the I property, because it prevented 1 shops being put up on the surplus land. The jury assessed the damages as stated above, and judgment was given accordingly, with costs.