LAND IN STREETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11879, 3 February 1902, Page 3

LAND IN STREETS.

[DY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wetxington, Saturday. The question of street widening is one of ever-present importance in the City of Wellington, where land is of such high value. A judgment given in the Supreme Court today by the Chief Justice is of considerable interest not only here but in other cities of the colony. The facts of the case were not in dispute. Messrs. Hunter were owners in fee of part of section 192, City of Wellington, which had already been divided. They transferred part of it to Mr. Gaulter, and the Land Registrar refused to register the transfer in consequence of sections 20 and 21 of the Public Works Act Amendment Act, 1900, not being complied with. The sole question, said His Honor, was whether what had been done in this transaction Was within the words of the enactment. The street fronting the land sold to Mr. Gaulter was only 52ft lOin wide. The part sold had been divided from the rest of the land held under the certificate of title. Was that a subdivision into allotments? Unless lie was to read " allotments" as meaning not cutting into two lots, but dividing into three or more lots, he must say that there had been a subdivision into allotments for sale. The word " allotments" must, in his opinion, be read as including two lots or allotments. .If that was not the meaning the provision was meaningless, for an owner could cut off one lot and sell and so go on till he had perhaps parted with a dozen or a score of lots, but he would only make one subdivision at a time. It was pointed out that the reading of the Act in this way might bring about some peculiar results. A street might be made unequal in width and Bear a jagged appearance, some parts being wider than others. Further, as the Public Works Act Amendment Act, 1901, made the local authority if whose area the street or road was widened liable to pay compensation for the part dedicated for street widening a heavy burden might be cast on a local authority. Further, the 1901 Act might cast on a borough council heavy compensation for buildings if they were leased for more than 14 years. But all these results or inconveniences would arise if the land were divided into three lots before sale and one lot was sold. . The provision might be a drastic or unsatisfactory method of obtaining a beneficial end, the widening of narrow streets. That was entirely fer the Legislature. The Legislature had determined that streets should be wide, and this remedial Act must receive a fair and liberal construction. If the act done in this case was 'within the words of the statute, and in his opinion it was, effect must be given to the manifest intention of the Legislature. He must, therefore, dismiss the summons, and he ordered that the costs of the District Land Registrar and of Mr. Gaulter be paid out of the land tranter assurance fund.