LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1502, 26 July 1912, Page 9

LAW REPORTS.

LOWER COURT,

HOW THE MILK CASE FAILED*

' ;" INSPECTOR'S SHILLING. NOT HELD TO BE "LEGAL' TENDER." Decision was delivered in the Magistrate's Court yesterday.by Mr. ,W. Q. -Bidden, S.M., in tho no.tion which the police brought against. James, Jepson on tho ground that he had, sold milk which contained a certain unlawful amount of .water,' andr also boron compound. Tho Act states that, on payment (or tender) to any person selling' milk, the inspector may obtain. 6amplos for the purposes of analysis. ~" i, .. : . . In his evidence' at the hearing of the case Inspector Schauor (of tho Health De-' partment) stated that he hadobtained-a pint sample of milk from defendant's wife. Iho price, of the pint had been twopence, and tho inspector had tendered Is., but this had rot been accepted as Mrs. .Tepson nart not the necessary change. Mr. SI. Myers, counsel for the defendant, argued at the hearing that the tender of Is. was not, in. this instance, a legal .tender, and that, therefore, the information should bo dismissed. His Worship quoted an authority which defined tender as "an unqualified offer accompanied by actual production of the full amount due." Gold, ho continued, was good tender for any amount, silver up , to ,-£2 and bronze up to Is. The tender had to bo of the full amount due. It. was not bad if more than the full amount, duo was tendered, but if change was asked for it was bad. A tender of a larger sum requiring change was not a good tender of a smaller sum. His Worship said that it must be held that the inspector had failed to tender the price of tho milk. The statute fixed tho conditions, which must be observed by those who wished to obtain an article of food ( for-analysis, and if ■n. prosecution Was likely to follow those conditions ought to be strictly observed. ;' ■_ ': The information wns dismissed. /'WANTED" FOR FOUR YEARS. George Paul was . sentenced to one month 3 imprisonment for having stolon a bioycle, valued at .£2O, ■ belonging to Spencer Frennell, of Himitangi, and various articles, valued at £5 18s.' be. longing to Patrick John Sullivan, a King Country .resident. ~. I(: wa f sta ted by .the police that the ofi ISfr , commit ted in 1908 and lm Paul had stol « 11 a bicycle at Enmtangi, and had disposed of it at Pahiatua. The police had then lost trace of him for.some considerable time. In 1010 ho had been working in the King Country, and, after a while, had decamped, taking with him several articles which belonged to his employer.. The goods had been stored at Tβ Kuifci railway station, and had subsequently'been sold as unclaimed luggage. Recently Paul had been arrested on a charge of house-breaking at kelson, and on.that charge he was now trial. • -.

. MISCELLANEOUS. Kathleen Stanley was sentenced to six months imprisonment on a charge that fcho was an incorrigible ronie • Frederick Blacklidge was fined £\ for insobriety.

CIVIL BUSINESS. THE UNDEFENDED CASES. In, the following cases judgment was entered for the'plaintiffs by default •— Abbott, Oram and Co. v. George-Kowc,-.£lB. lls. .id.,.and costs £1 10s. 6d.; Wellington Timber Co., Ltd., v. F. W Ward £a'Ms id., mstsTM-Ws.'6d.',' Jamas KelWW; -assignee of Frederick. Ernest Hyde, v. Claude. Hancox, £2 3s. lid., costs .81 25.; Joseph^T. Lewis y. Fred Smith; £i lls;; Charles Pratt and Go.- V. 'A. J. Mace, .£39 Os. 7d., costs £2 Us.; the Commercial.Agency, Ltd., assignee, and Brisooe and Co., Ltd., assignor, v. John George Lusty, £12 9s. 6d., costs £i 6s; the Commercial Agency, Ltd., assignee, and Edward AndeTson and Co., Ltd., assignors, v. David Duncan, £35 19s 7d costs .§2.1*5.; Alfred.John .Slack t. Albert' (fimmings, £3 18s., costs 7s.