CITY COUNCIL TAKES HIGH STREET SECTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 533, 10 December 1928, Page 12

CITY COUNCIL TAKES HIGH STREET SECTION

COMPENSATION CLAIMED VALUE OF THE LEASE An important claim for compensation arising out of the acquisition by the Auckland City Council of a section in High Street came before the Supreme Court this morning. The claimants, who sought £3,521, were Harold C. Moses and Claude H. Moses, executors of the late Minnie Moses, lessee of the Oxford Chambers from T. W. Leys and others. The sum sought consisted mainly of £2,041 for loss of the leasehold of 5.1 perches of land and £I.OOO for diminution of goodwill. The balance was made up of smaller%mounts relating to removal expenses and alleged loss in various forms. Associated with Mr. Justice Frazer were Messrs. G. W. Hutchinson and Charles Rhodes, assessors for the claimants and council respectively. Mr. West appeared for plaintiffs and Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Butler for respondents. Mr. West said plaintiffs’ lease was for a term of 21 years from July 1. 1910. the rental being £2OO per annum for the first ten years and £250 for the remainder. The building had since been removed. It had stoail on a section of a frontage of 22ft by a depth of 66ft. The lease had still five years to run. The value of the lease was the only question for the court. It had been known for many years that a strip of about 13ft would be taken off a. number of sections, but instead of taking this step the council saw fit to take the whole section, said Mr. West. Its purpose was to effect an exchange of land with one Gilbert adjoining Moses’s section. An exchange between the Crown and the City Council of the Shortland Street post office site for council property in High Street and behind the Supreme Court was at present in the air. Regarding the loss of good will, counsel said that curiously the purchase of a piano in a class of business, such as the plaintiff’s No Deposit Piano Company, was not a matter of only once in a lifetime. Members of the same family used to come back time and again over a period of 10 or 15 years for new pianos. The business had been a very, lucrative one. The net profit for the year ending March 31, 1925, was just on £6,000. Claimants had had to purchase a site and erect a building in Upper Queen Street at a total cost of about £25,000. The late Mrs. Moses had contributed £14,000. Harold Charles Moses had paid £11,500 for the site. Claimants would be glad to be back on the High Street stand. To Mr. Johnstone, Charles Harold Moses said it was his honest belief that he had lost more than £3,800. The major item of £2,041 included interest for three years and largely comprised loss of rental. Witness admitted competition on the no-deposit system had greatly increased since 1925. He considered pianos could not be classed as a luxury, but were educational necessities. (Proceeding.)