RATES ON A CONVENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19405, 13 August 1926, Page 15

RATES ON A CONVENT.

EXEMPTION NOT ALLOWED. LIMITED USE AS SCHOOL. INSTITUTION AT CAMBRIDGE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. J CAMBRIDGE. Thursday. Reserved decision was given by Mr. Wyvern Wilson, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court to-day in the case heard at Hamilton Jast week when the Cambridge Borough Council sued the Sisters of the Mission, Cambridge, for £3115s 7d, arrears of rates on the convent school property. He .said the only question at issue between the parties was whether the came within the exemption provided in the Rating Act, as lands and buildings used for a school, and not carried on exclusively for pecuniary gain or profit. The principal object of the institute was the observance of spiritual exercises by its members. Their secondary duty was to extend the. kingdom of God by instruction in education. It appeared that partial use of the convent building was made for the education of some pupils, but this was a matter of convenience rather than of absolute necessity. With regard to the teaching of singing in the convent it appeared that more than one-half of the income of the convent was raised in this manner, antinued the magistrate. It seemed that the lands and building in respect of which rates were claimed were not used exclusively for a school, and that the other use. which was the primary one, could not in any sense be said to be trifling and consequently immaterial. Judgment was for plaintiff for £3l 15s 7d, , with costs £7 3s. Security for appeal was fixed at £lO.