SUPREME COURT

Southland Times, Issue 19101, 20 November 1923, Page 6

SUPREME COURT

QUARTERLY SESSION OPENED. The quarterly session of the Supreme Court opened yesterday; afternon before His Honour, Mr Justice Sim. CLAIM FOR RENT. The Invercargill Corporation (Mr C. S. Longuet) proceeded against the Deacon’s Court of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in a claim for rent in respect of section 6, block 73. Mr J. Tait defended the action. Mr Tait claimed that the land came within the exemption of clause 3, section 2 of the Rating Act, 1908, which provided that land occupied by churches or chapels shall be exempt. Section 6 and part of section 8, in respect of which rates were claimed, were necessary to the church for various purposes. A church of this nature required some setting in order that its beauty should be preserved. Part of the land was also necessary for utilitarian purposes. Access and egress from the side and the back of the church were provided through part of these sections and section 8 was used exclusively for the purpose of the church. Mr Longuet stated that all the land except section 7, upon which the church was built, was purchased subsequent to the building of the church and the fact that a small portion of the church occupied part of section 6 was due to encroachment. A portion of section 8 was useful for church purposes in that it provided access and egress, but the land had been used for that purpose before the section had been acquired by the Deacon’s Court. His Honour reserved his decision.