THE DAYS' PROPERTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9161, 17 September 1888, Page 3

THE DAYS' PROPERTY.

a DR. GILES' DECISION. The application of Mr. Strathern in respect to the property in Ponsonby owned by Mr. and Mis. Day, was again before the, Police Court on Saturday morning, when Dr. Giles give his decision in the case.

Mrs. Day, when asked if she had anything more to say with regard to the matter, spoke at some length, declaring herself and her husband innocent of any charge. She would not have taken one penny in relief if she had known that these proceedings would be taken, and she was perfectly innocent of this villainous charge. All were turning their backs against her and staring at her. The trouble had been brought about by Mr. Graham, who had not told her that the aid she had received would have to be returned. Mrs. Day went on to speak as to her good character. Dr. Giles pointed out that no charge had been made against her character. Mrs. Day : The Herald has taken me up in a most villainous and cowardly way. If I could afford it I would make them pay for it. Mrs. Day named several people who knew her to be of good character, and continued : And now 1 am to be scandalised by the Herald in the way I have been—it is villainous. I have never been in debt, and I wanted to have this debt cleared oil'. The place can be made over to the Board, to be theirs, and to get as much as ever they can from us.

His Worship said he understood that this was what Mr. Strathern wanted. Mrs. Day said she wanted the officers of the Board to come and reason the matter with her and her husband, and arrive at some conclusion. She was afraid to give up the deeds of the property, for she and her husband would not live so lung—she thought her poor husband was now very near his last; this had been a thunderbolt to him. They had been honest, hardworking people, and it was dreadful that they should be pulled to pieces in this way. Mr. Strathern said he had talked the matter over with the secretary and several members of the Board, and they were perfectly satisfied that these old people should be allowed to occupy the house as long as they lived.

Dr. Giles said that of course lie had only to regard the legal aspect of the question, and there could be no doubt of the view taken by the law. The law held that no person whatever should be allowed to come to the public and be recipients of charity, if he was a possessor of property, and it was provided that any real or personal property should be forfeited in return for aid given to its owners. He had some reluctance to make an order of this kind, but that was not the question. He had considered the matter carefully, and the view he had taken of it amounted almost to the same thing as proposed by both parties. The order he would make, therefore, would be that the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board be authorised to have the powers of sale, and to exercise the powers and rights generally of a mortgagee over this property for security of the payment of this sum. This was the measure which Mrs. Day herself proposed, and in such a case it would not be necessary to turn her or her husband out of the house.