STOURBRIDGE: A Rating Question: At the Petty Sessions, on Friday, before Colonel Fletcher, Mr. J. B. Cochrane, and Mr. A. F. Godson, M.P., a case which has been before the Bench previously, was called on, in which Mr. C. P. Noel was summoned by the Overseers of Belbroughton for a poor-rate of £9. 5s. on the Yew Tree House, which forms part of his estate. Mr. Waldron appeared for the Overseers, and Mr. Pinsent (Birmingham) for the defendant. The property in respect to which the rate was claimed has been untenanted for several years, and the gardens, shrubbery, plantation, and pools belonging to the house are about 10 acres. Mr. Noel has had a caretaker named Valentine in the house, and a person named Fox has stabled a horse and kept a cart on the premises. Neither of them paid anything to Mr. Noel, they stated, but Valentine, in addition to occupying certain rooms at the house, had the produce of the garden. Mr Noel found coal for airing the house. Valentine said he used the money for the vegetables he sold for his own domestic purposes, and in the course of his evidence he stated that he should have to turn out at a moment’s notice if the house were let. The arrangement was that he was to go to Yew Tree House till he could get into a situation. He had not rendered an account to Mr. Noel of the produce of the garden, and Mr. Noel had derived no benefit from it. The garden was about an acre and a half in extent, and there were greenhouses in which he grew tomatoes. The case occupied a considerable time, and Mr. Waldron contended on behalf of the Overseers that there was a beneficial occupation of the property. Mr. Pinsent urged that there was no beneficial occupation whatsoever by Mr. Noel. Several cases bearing on the point were referred to, and in the end the Bench decided to make an order for the payment of the rate.
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GROxxxx Devonport