LAW AND SANITATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15142, 5 November 1912, Page 8

LAW AND SANITATION.

A JUDGMENT CRITICISED.

Damages to the amount of £75 were recently awarded against the Remuera Road Board for the cutting down of some trees in the course of drainage operations. The case was heard by Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., arid Messrs. H. R. Cooke and W. Garrett an assessors, and the judgment of the Court was communicated to the Board last night in at: indignant letter, from Messrs. Russell and Campbell, solicitors to the Board.

The letter stated that the original claim had been amended from £60 to £35 for the loss of the trees, and from £35 to £80 for deprivation of shelter. They were loth to comment on the actions of any Court; but there were instances in which a proper sense of the public interest demanded criticism. Eveu giving the claimant the benefit of all disputed questions of fact, the amount awarded was on a generous, not to say an extravagant standard. "If in future/' the letter continued, " claims are to be treated according to the standard adopted in the present, case, sanitation will become not merely a burden grievous and intolerable to local bodies, but an impossibility, as being beyond their financial resources.'' Members, on the reading of the letter, expressed surprise at the sum awarded for an injury which they considered should have been met by a much smaller amount. The Chairman (Mr. J. G. Rutherford) said he did not see any good in pursuing the matter. The Board could do nothing now but foot the bill. The time when it should have fought the case was when it was being heard, and that time was past. The discussion closed, and the letter was received.