ACTED AS LAWYERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 164, 12 June 1926, Page 4

ACTED AS LAWYERS

COMPANY PREPARES A DEED. o LAAV SOCIETY PROSECUTION. I l STRATFORD. June 8. An unusual case came before the Alagistrate’s Court when an action was " brought by the Taranaki Law Society ; against the Stratford Loan and Deposit ; Company, Ltd., alleging that the de- ; fendant company had violated the proi visions of the Land Transfer Act, 1915, in that, not being the holder of a license . as a land broker or being on the roll of the Supreme Court of New Zealand 1 as a barrister or solicitor, it had trans- ’ acted for reward certain business under ' the Act, to wit, a discharge of a memorandum of mortgage. In outlining tho case, Air AYeston i pointed out that the Legislature regarded breaches of the Act as serious enough ’ to incur a penalty not exceeding £SO. . The information had been laid because ' the defendant company had made a practice of carrying on the class of , business complained of in the face of . warnings from tlie society; in fact, it ; was understood thafr the ledgers of the ’ company showed fairly considerable fees collected from the transaction of this [ business. He further stated that the society was not pressing for a heavy ; penalty, but wanted to bring home to the company and to the public generally that the practice must cease. The " particular business of conveyancing required a certain amount of skill and the society was in possession of facts that showed that the company had not properly executed the memorandum of discharge. For instance, stamps had | not been properly affixed arid other ir- ’ regularities had been noticed, all of which meant additional expense. I Counsel for the defendant gave an 1 assurance that the company would not carry on the business in future. ' | In fining the defendant company a nominal penalty of £2, with costs £1 , 14s, Mr R. AY. Tate, S.AI., said he did not think the fact that the transactions were made in respect of the company’s own business was a legitimate excuse. The statute was made for the protection of the public. The release of a mortgage was usually a simple ■ matter, but he had known cases of inI volved tangles to arise from the improper execution of a release. As the case was the first of its kind in Taranaki, and in view of the assurance given by the defendant company that the practice would cease, ho would treat the I case as a warning and impose only a nominal penalty.