RELIC OF PAST

Southland Times, Issue 21772, 29 July 1932, Page 4

RELIC OF PAST

ANCIENT ACT. LANDLORD OBTAINS JUDGMENT. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, July 28. On a claim based on the provisions of the Distress for Rent Act of 1737, passed in the reign of George 11., under a section described by Mr _ McNeil, S.M., as a “relic of the past,” James Dean Davidson, a landlord, succeeded at the Magistrate’s Court in establishing the right to obtain from a tenant, W. A. Hamilton, double value of his furniture, owing to the fact that Hamilton was held to have removed it from Davidson’s house when he knew Davidson intended to seize it by way of distress for ari’ears of rent. Mr McNeil, who heard the case, also held that in addition to the sum of £lB5, which was Davidson’s estimate of the double value of the furniture, Hamilton was apparently liable for arrears of rent amounting to £62. Although Mr McNeil held that the plaintiff Davidson must succeed in his action, he reserved the matter of fixing the amount actually to be paid by the defendant Hamilton until the position had been discussed by the solicitors for both sides and the defendant had had the opportunity of giving his estimate of the value of the furniture. Mr McNeil said he would like to hear argument as to whether or not both rent and double value could, under the circumstances, be claimed.