WANGANUI FIRE STATION SITE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXIV, Issue 17694, 21 October 1919, Page 8

WANGANUI FIRE STATION SITE.

DECISION OF APPEAL COURT

JUDGMENT AGAINST BOROUGH

COUNCIL.

(Per Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, October 20

The xVppeal Court to-day gave judgment in the case, Solicitor-Gene-r..l v. Wanganui Borough Council. The Court held that it was entitled to look at ,the negotiations to ascertain whether the transaction was a gift or a sale, and came to the conclusion that a charitable trust was created by the conveyance from the Wanganui Fire Board (Wanganui Volunteer Fire Brigade) to the Borough, and that Section 29 of the Fire Brigades Act, 1908, had no application to the circumstances of the case. As the Wanganui Borough Council could not now carry out the provisions of the trust a• cy pre.s scheme should be devised to give effect to the trust.

Section 29 of the Fire Brigades Act, 1908, provides that, where a local authority owns land or buildings in fee simple for fire prevention purposes, it shall hand the same over to the Fire Board on the constitution of the latter, and that the Fire Board .shall pay for same according to a valuation. The Court decides that this does not apply to the Wanganui case. By a "cy pres" scheme is meant, briefly, that the whole matter must now be the subject of a fresh arrangement in conformity with the original trust.