KAITAIA LIBRARY

Northern Advocate, 24 October 1935, Page 2

KAITAIA LIBRARY

TOWN BOARD HAS NO TITLE

TRANSFER NOT MADE

SURPRISING POSITION DISCLOSED

,A surprising positicn -nas been dis closed in connection with the Kaitaia Library, which was recently sold by the Town Board to Mr A. Gray for £ 170. A legal search has shown tnat the Library was an incorporated society, and the property was vested in three trustees, from whom it has never, as. far as the present investigations go, been transferred to the Town Board, which now finds that it has sold something to which it had no title, . , The investigations have been maae difficult by the absence of the minute book covering a period of about six years from January, 1925. . The subscribers to the library had the power, under the constitution, to elect new trustees 1 every year, but during the earlier years and, as far as the records of the minutes go, no change was made in the original trustees. Of the' five trustees, three are still alive, but one is in Australia. The Town Clerk was able to produce a copy of a letter to 'the board’s first solicitor, in which instructions were given to have the library transferred to the Town Board. There was no reply to this letter, and it was assumed that the matter was receiving attention. Meanwhile, the board acted als though it was owner of the property, and was recognised as owner by the Library society, which caused to be transferred to the board* a mortgage on a. farm in Victoria Valley, representing the Stanton bequest of £3OO, After, agreeing to the sale of the building to Mr Gray, the question arose of when possession could be given, and a date was agreed upon on which rents were to be paid to Mr Gray, and he could exercise the powers of ownership.. < ’ When the position was placed before the Town Board on Monday night, Mr Taaffe asked the present solicitor, Mr J. B. Reynolds, whether the sale to Mr Gray . could stand. The solicitor said there were the facts that a special order making the sale had been passed, and that a deposit had been paid and a receipt given. The solicitor conveyed the impression that he was of the opinion that the board would have to go through the whole procedure again, and that there were grounds on which Mr Gray might claim for failure to complete the agreement. Some months would, elapse, he told the board, before everything would be in proper form. In the absence of one of the minutebooks, the solicitor said, he was unable to give a definite opinion on some points. The main thing was to find the old minute-book, which would go ’far towards a solution of the difficulty facing the board. If it should not be possible to get the consent of the trustees to the transfer to the Town Board, a- meeting of the original subscribers could be called in January for the appointment of other trustees, this being provided for ! in the library constitution.

. It is significant that the two members of the old library committee who signed, as trustees, the transfer of the mortgage to the Town, Board, were not included in the fiVe trustees in whom the library property was vested to the end of 1924, as shown by the minute-book in existence. Whether these two were appointed trustees for a special purpose, or replaced original trustees is a point which has yet to be decided. The solicitor thought it possible that the committee elected annually were also trustees.