AN APPEAL CASE

Waikato Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 4962, 26 March 1912, Page 2

AN APPEAL CASE

MORGAN v. CAMBRIDGE ROAD BOARD. By Telegraph. —Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Court of Appeal (Judges Williams, Denniston and Chapman) sat this afternoon to hear argument in case of appeal of Loughnan v. J. D. P. Morgan. The appeal is from judgment of Mr Justice Edwards ordering the issue of a writ of mandamus commanding the Stipendiary Magistrate at Cambridge, to hear and determine the complaint of plaintiff requiring the Cambridge Road Board to appear before the Magistrate to show cause why such Road Board should not issue a notice under Section 129 of the Public Works Act, 1908, in accordance with the petition of five ratepayers lodged pursuant to that section. Mr Justice Edwards held that the said Section 129 applied to all gates, fences or obstructions whatsoever erected or placed upon or across public roads. The Magistrate had refused to hear the complaint upon the ground that the section was limited, applying only to gates, etc., erected by permission of the Road Board. The question for the Court of Appeal is whether the section is so limited or whether the interpretation placed upon it by Judge Edwards is correct and the mandamus was rightly issued. Mr Buckland, of Cambridge, appeared for the appellants and Mr A. W. Blair for the respondents. After legal argument had been heard the Court held unanimously that Section 129 of the Public Works Act was a general one, and Judge Edwards' interpretation was correct. The appeal was dismissed with costs on the lowest scale as from a distance.