Legal Tangle Over Sopa Sopa

N.G. Expropriated

Property

AT Melbourne on May 24 Mr. Justice Wasley delivered judgment in a case in which Stanley Arthur Webb, a return ed soldier, of Lae, New Guinea, sued the Custodian of Expropriated Properties for damages, the return of £1500, with interest, and rescission of a contract.

Mr. Webb bought a coconut plantation from the Federal Government in 1927. The plantation was one of many in the terri tory taken from the Germans. When tenders for the purchase of the planta tions were invited Mr. Webb offered £10,000 for Sopa Sopa, which was described in official printed papers as being an Island north-west of Manus, the largest island in the Admiralty Group, north of New Guinea. Mr. Webb set out to inspect his new home, but he said he found that Sopa Sopa existed as an island only in the official imagination, Sopa Sopa, in fact, was on the mainland of Manus. He had paid a deposit of £500, and a further £1000 when his tenders were accepted.

Mr. Webb complained that the location of Sopa Sopa had been misrepresented to him. In addition, he said that the islands off the coast of Manus comprised some of the best copra land, but the plantations on the mainland were known to be in fested with pests and unsuitable for copra.

Mr. Justice Wasley began the hearing of Mr. Webb’s claim last year but the final stage was not reached until May.

Mr. Webb won on the issue of misrepre sentation, but he failed on legal grounds.

Mr. Wasley said that the action resolved itself into one based on innocent misrep resentation—the misrepresentation that Sopa Sopa was a separate island, whereas it was part of the mainland. This mis representation had been proved.

Mr. Webb, however, must prove that this misrepresentation was part of the inducement which caused him to enter into the contract, and that there was a complete difference in the thing bargained for and that obtained, so as to constitute failure of consideration. He was not satisfied that Webb had proved either of those things.