SUBDIVISION STREETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19040, 10 June 1925, Page 12

SUBDIVISION STREETS.

LOCAL BODIES' POWERS. LIMITATION BY STATUTE. [by telegraph.—Press association.] PALMERSTON NORTH. Tuesday. Reserved judgment in a case concerning the powers of local bodies in the matter of enforcing the tarring and sanding of roads through private properties has been delivered by Mr. Justice Reed. The case, which was heard in the Supremo Court, w;is one in which James John Casey proceeded against tho Palmerston North Borough Council claiming to rocovcr £465, being moneys lodged under protest as a deposit on future work, the tarring and sanding of a road and paths made by plaintiff in subdividing his propGfty. '' • His Honor said the law now is that the owner of land who subdivides it for sale or lease shall make provision for public streets and cannot be compelled to provide private streets. A local body could not arbitrarily refuse to accept dedication of a road or street, nor impose conditions not authorised by statute. It could prescribe the thickness of metal, but had no authority to require tarring and sanding. ■ - . ~ In the case under review the council had authorised a now street and required it to be tarred and sanded according to a by-law in that regard. . Judgment was given for tho. plaintiff for tho full amount claimed.