Feilding R.M. Court.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 50, 29 September 1883, Page 2

Feilding R.M. Court.

» Thubsdat, Sept. 27th, 1883. (Before 1.. Ward, Esq.. R.M.) CIVIL CABBB. Halcombe and Sherwill r Smart, Bros.— Continued. Wm. Ermstrom deposed: He hacßtoen , a miller 18 or 19 years, and had. had experience of all sorts of wheat; remember , Smart's wheat, which he examined, and found not good; told by putting his hand into the sacks; also by touching the outside of the bag ; this wheat was hard, in the bags, as a stone ; should say it was wet before bagging ; it was discoloured, and not fit for milling ; could not have mixed it wit'> good without spoiling all ; it was only fit for pigs or fowl's food, and could not have ground and sold it as good flour ; believed it was injured in the sheafs or stacks; it could not have got injured in the sacks .without the sacks , being injured too, and they were perfectly clean and good ; if injured bet ore bagging it gets worse the longer it remains ; if once wetted it cannot be le^tored, and is done for, except for pigs or fowl's food. Could not have received the injury it had while in the store ; i£ good wheat it would be aU the better ; if „ wet before bagging it goes black, and smells musty; never knew wheat to be injured as this was after bagging would take a long time to injure the sack, and would at last grow through it; have some now that has been stacked in the store over six months, just as on ; board ship, and it is all the better if anything ; have some in the store that has been there about 18 months,' and it is quite good; Smart's wheat that" was good was good altogether in the bag, arid the bad was altogether so likewise ; stacking, wheat in . the store in the winter will not inj ure' it. In the summer it is best to shift it to look ' after insects. Cross-examined : Some of the damaged wheat was black, and some rotten- and dead ; good wheat will take a certain amount of moisture from the atmosphere, and all wheat is capable of ' breeding the • weevil, which is prevented by keeping the wheat dry ; believe plaintiff's store is a good and proper one for wheat ; can't say if it is lined, orhow far the floor iB from the ground; the hardness of the bags did not strike me as arising from the wheat absorbing moisture from the outside ; wheat would be the worse for milling if it got wet three or four times before; can't say what amount of rain would be required to injure it while in the field, or to cause it to discolour. Good and bad grain when mixed can easily be distinguished ; will swear, the damaged wheat in question would not have made good baker's flour if it had been ground in April ; it might have satisfied settlers who had milk to mix with it; in grinding wheat witness mixed it, but not bad with good ; some of the samples of wheat had. been more damaged by the raio than others ..* Witness was here shown the samples of wheat before the court, and said T£ was middling, and 'might be better ,I.waswretched stuff, wet and grown; A, C, and D were good, and B very good. The last four would make good flour. Re-examined : Good or bad wheat will remain so after bagging, and the latter get worse And rot: If the wheat had been ground in April he oould not havfc sold it as good flour. „ ' Henry Hammond deposed tHe was a v «; farmer residing at Carnarvon, and grew a large quantity of grain ; generally let it lie in the stocks a week or so, and then stacked it, but did not thatch the. stacks; grew about 3,000 bushels last year, and had some damaged, the stacks not .being well built ; if going to thresh in a week after stacking; should take the same care in stacking as if it had to remain some months ; a little rain would riot hurt the wheat , in the .field, arid it could not get inj ury in the staok if well' built ;, wheat damaged in the stack gets discolored afterwards, and if bagged gets worse; don't think wheat could receive injury in plaintiffs' store, and if it had the' bags would have shown it ; I have never had wheat go bad if stored while good. : Cross-examined : Last season was the worst I hare seen for farming ; hare not

seen any stacks thatched about here ; a little rain brightens tlie colour of grain while in the field; saw Smart's wheat in 1882; it was the best crop of red chaff wheat I ever saw ; I keep wheat, iv. store sometimes for 12 months and occasionally turn it over to prevent weevil ; if the outside of a bag were hard, should say the wheal was damp when put in. H. L. Sherwill deposed : He remembered purchasing wheat of defendants in 1 882 ; the jsample shown was.good milling wheat, clear and firm ; sold Mr -Jensea. of Palmerston, 246 bags ; he complained of some of the bags delivered, and came to my store to examine the remainder, which was found to be bad ; gave 4s 3d per bushel for the good wheat ; the damaged was worll. about 2s 6d, and could only have been sold • tor pigs or fowls ; . did not know any, of the wheat was bad £ " till 'Mr Jensen came and was theu perfectly satisfied it was ; witness' store is -. perfectly weather t and\da_up-.ight, and • --no wheat could receive inj ury while there; had some of Hammond's wheat" at same time, some of which was bad, but the two lots, were kept separate, and there was no confusion .amongst them. Cross-examined : Bought the wheat through Mr Smith, manager of the Bank df New Zealand, Sanson; sent a telegram ordering , 1000 • bushels as per sample ; examined fire or.six bags promiscuously, and these were all right ; had no reason .at the time to believe the others were not good when delivered, but certainly feel sure now that they were not 'so; bave not kept -samples of either the good or bad; did not think this important, but regretted he,did not do so; there were no oats, to his knowledge, put ou the top of Smart's wheat while ih his store ; had ■ o green bides in tho store while the wheat was there ; paid Smart for the whole of the wheat, and told him he was satisfied so far as he had seen it. A. C. Burcham deposed : He was a flour miller at Sanson; have been a mil- i ler 20 to 30 years ; saw the wheat purchased by plaintiffs ' from defend mt ; examined bags shown to . witness as; Smarts; tlie samples shown to- him as bad , were unfit for /milling, 'wheat, acd he; -would not S'&ve givea lialf-a-crown a bushel for it, as it was only fit for pigs ; if it had been ground in April not more than a 20th part of it could have been put with good wheat without spoiling it ; had previously bought 199 bu.hels hiniKolf at 4s 4d, but some of it was not worth 3s ; took samples 'of the bad and showed plaintiffs, and told tbem it hid been damaged by wet ; they denied that it liad, to their knowledge; believe Smarts were not .conscious of the extent to which the wheat was.. damaged; it was. uniformly damp, and witness should; think it had got wet in the stooks ; directly he felt it he pro- * n'ounced it bad ; have had 'some wheat in the Btorefor 12 months without receiving injury; was not aware that wheat will go bad by absorbtion of moisture from the atmosphere; thought plaintiff's an excellent 6tore, and wheat could not get damaged there by damp ; the bad wheat he saw there he concluded had been received in a damaged state. The marked' samples of wheat were shown to witness, 'who pronotiaced'A B C and D to 'be good aod sound, and E and F'to be damaged and grown. [The ease continued throughout the whole of Thursday^ and the evidence ' on 1 'the plaintiff's side had not proceeded far when- adjournment was -made, until the next regular, sitting of, 'the court. The case is'excitmg a good deal of interest in the district, and' another, day or two will probably :be occupied in its.conclusion.]