Misuse of the Telephone.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 125, 25 November 1895, Page 2

Misuse of the Telephone.

DAMAGES AGAINST LUKE AND SONS. (Per Press Association.) ' Wellington, November 24. ] The case of alleged misuse of the telephone occupied the Magistrate's Court : yesterday. Crabtree and Sons sued S. ' Luke and Co., Ltd., for £4 as damages for having falsely represented to Charles . i Lomax that plaintiffs were speaking to i ; him through the telephone and that ( plaintiffs bad not in stock " old iron rails " when in fact an employee of defendants' were speaking and not plain- - tiffs, and plaintiffs had old iron rails in ' stock, whereby plaintiffs lost the benefit of an order which Lomax was about to giye. Evidence was giyenby three wit- i nesses that on ringing up Luke and Sons and asking if it was Crabtree and Sons (both firms are iron founders) an answer came in the affirmative. The defence was a general denial, although it was admitted tbe office boy, for a prank, had once, in reply to a query, " Is tbat Crabtree and Son ? " replied " Yes." iJlr Martin gave judgment for plaintiffs with costs. ,In giving judgment, bis Worship said, on tbe evidence he found that there bad not been any personal abuse of tbe telephone by either of the Lukes, but be held there had been gross misuse of tbe instrument by some of their employes, though he was not prepared to say by whom. Crabtree and Son's num- | ber was 234 and Luke and Son's 234?