9911796707
TMI Blog1928 (7) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere is also before the Board a cross-appeal (brought by leave) against so much of the order of the Court of appeal as varied the award in the appellants' favour and against that part of the same order which directed the respondents to pay interest on the principal sum awarded. 3. The award was made on a claim by the appellants for compensation in respect of certain lands expropriated by the respondents for the purpose of their statutory undertaking. 4. The respondents are virtually a department of the Province of New Brunswick and were incorporated by the Act above referred to for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating works, machinery and plant for generating electrical energy from (amongst other things) water power a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sole arbitrator, and the Judge so designated should thereupon become and be the sole arbitrator for determining the compensation to be paid. 7. It was expressly enacted that if the sum awarded should not be greater than that offered, the costs of the arbitration should be borne by the owner. 8. An appeal was allowed upon any question of law or fact to the appeal division of the Supreme Court, and it was provided that upon the hearing of the appeal, the Supreme Court, if the question were one of fact, should decide the same upon the evidence taken before the arbitrator as in the case of original jurisdiction. 9. The Musquash river, which flows into the Bay of Fundy, about 17 miles S.W. of the city of St. John, consists of two branches, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... acres, and is in the main made up of the beds of the river and its tributaries and comparatively narrow strips of land on their banks. The whole of Lake Alva and the land on its shores is included. These portions are severed from the rest of the area, which thus loses such facilities for water transport as it previously enjoyed. The owners are also deprived of the fishing in the rivers and lakes included in the expropriated portion. 13. Pursuant to the provisions of the above-mentioned Act, the respondents obtained the certificate of Mr. G.G. Murdoch, a sworn surveyor and civil engineer, disinterested in the matter. The amount stated by him to be in his opinion fair compensation for the land to be taken and for damages was $59,003.56, mad ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r fishing rights, making the total amount awarded $49,490. The Court also allowed interest, refused by the arbitrator, on the said sum of $49,490 at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum from 13th October 1920. They gave the appellants the costs of the appeal, but ordered them to pay the costs of the arbitration. 17. The appellants appeal against this order, and contend (1) that the sum awarded as compensation for the land is insufficient, inasmuch as the arbitrator did not award any sum in respect of the special advantages alleged to be enjoyed by reason of the possibility of use being made of the water-power connected therewith; (2) that something ought to be allowed for the value of the property for the purposes of hunting and shooting; and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aken and that has been properly corrected by the Appeal Division. 21. As to the complaint that no value has been placed on the land in respect of possible profits to be derived from the hunting and shooting, their Lordships de not see their way to interfere with the award. They think the Court of appeal were right in their view that there was really no evidence on which such a claim could be founded. It would appear that there is abundance of land in the neighbourhood, shooting over which would be obtainable under an ordinary game license, and it cannot be assumed that under such circumstances anything substantial would be paid for such a right over the appellants' land. 22. As to the amount allowed for severance, Mr. Murdoch, in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for sale and purchase of land it is the practice to require the purchaser to pay interest on his purchase money from the date when he took possession (per Lord Cave, L.C., in Swift v The Board of Trade [1925] A.C. 520 at 532. 27. The law on the point has also been extended to cases under the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845. 28. Their Lordships can see no good reason for distinguishing the present case from such cases. It is true that the expropriation under the Act in question is not effected for private gain, but for the good of the public at large, but for all this, the owner is deprived of his property in this case as much as in the other, and the rule has long been accepted in the interpretation of statutes that they are not to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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