The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVER IT MORNING, GISBORNE, DECEMBER 18, 1903. A LAWSUIT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XII, Issue 1076, 18 December 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVER IT MORNING, GISBORNE, DECEMBER 18, 1903. A LAWSUIT.

The Mercantile Gazette gives the following resume of a case that is of considerable interest in pastoral ;districts Mr Copeland, a farmer residing near Ashburton, bought .from the Bank of New fS&uth Wales some time in June last a sheep ■station containing 12,000 f acres, near ißakaia, known as I-Icslertori, with the stock depasturing thereon, for a price somewhere about £27,000.

.Soon after, he divided the land into six lots, and instructed Matson and Co., the well-known auctioneers of ,Christchurch, to obtain offers for the same, but not to effect sales with-

out reference to him of any lots until' Nos. 1 and 2 were disposed of. These particular sections, we may, say, consisted of very light stony land, and were a considerable distance from the homestead block. Matson and Co., at their own ex-

pense, advertised the property very fully, had lithographic ’plans of the land prepared, and generally boomed the land for all that it was worth. They’ were anxious to effect a sale within the time limited to them—--21 days. Inquiries for the different lots were in plenty, but bona fide buyers seem to have been few, as until the Gth of; July, .nearly ,a fortnight after the. firm commenced trying to,spll, they had not one offer. On the GUI of July, however, a Mr Sowden intimated his willingness to purchase lots 3,4, and 5 at a price considerably n excess of l\lr Copland’s reserves, and the fallowing day another purchaser appeared who offered to take lot 2, but at a'figure slightly below, the upset price. The

auctioneers thereupon consulted their solicitor as to whether they could, on their own motion, sell lots 1 and 3 at a lower price than that authorised by their instructions, as they could obtain a considerable excess ,on sections 3,4, and 5. They were .apparently advised that the reserves could not he lowered without the authorisation of their principal, anu on the following day (the 7th July) ■they wired for him to come to •Christchurch, where lie arrived by the evening train, and /went direct to Mr Leicester Watson’s house. What look place there is differently narrated by each side. Mr Copland

says lie was informed the pface would not sell. Sowdcn’s offer* for lots 3, 1, and 5 were known to him, as he was present the day before when they nerc made, but I renderson’s oiler for section 2 was not, lie said, communicated. The other persons present—consisting of Mr Da\ id Matson, a solicitor’s clerk, and a Mr lialfour (who had been manager, of Heslerton for some, years)—all swore that Mr Leicester Matson did, his best to persuade Copland to accept the offers made, and that he informed Copland of Henderson’s offer, but did not state the amount. After neatly an hour spent in trying to obtain authority to close with the offers for lots 2,3, 4, and 5, Mr Copland remained inflexible in his resolve not to sell any ot the blocks until K‘o. 1 was first disposed of, and Mr Matson then informed him that they had a purchaser who was prepared to treat for the estate as a whole. Mr Copland saw no objection to this, and calculations were gone into to ascertain what amount was wanted. The value of Sowden’s offers was considered, and after deducting these it left the balance of the land standing at 30s per acre io bring out Mr Copland’s reserves, some £25.500, ! and this amount Mr, Leicester Mat- 1 son understood was the price Cop- I land then wanted for the whole. Mr 1 Garrick was brought into the room ( and introduced as a possible buyer, I and Mr Copland said he was prepar- i

ed to sell, but would not take less than £2G,U(Jfi, which price Garrick, after a couple of hours’ discussion, resolved to give, and a contract was immediately drawn up by the solicitor’s clerk who was in attendance, and the bargain was completed. The following morning, Mr Copland and the purchaser attended a bank manager, to whom the agreement was shown ; this gentleman expressed an opinion that the terms of the document .seemed very fair, and Mr Copland then left, after expressing a liope that Garrick would make money out of his purchase. Some days later, Copland had a clearing sale of the .sheep, etc., anti when lie came to balance up accounts, found that he had made a profit of six or seven thousand pounds out of the transaction, Garrick at once accepted the offer made by Sowden and Henderson ; a few days later he found a buyer for No. 1, and then much to the surprise of everyone lot 6, upon which £2 17s had been placed, sold f or £4 10s, and these figures brought, out a further profit of LGlifiO. Mr Copland intimated that lie should decline to be bound by the sale, as he said it had been brought about by a preconcerted arrangement with Garrick, under which Matson had designedly withheld from him information as to prospective buyers, and that lie had accepted Garrick’s offer only because of the representations made to him—representations which lie believed, that, with the exception of Sowden, there was not a person who was willing to buy. Garrickbrought an. action praying that Copland might be ordered to carry out his contract, and on the hearing of ■the case Mr Copland gave his account of what was said and done at Matson’s bouse on the evening that he signed the contract, an account denied in every material particular bv all those present, save himself, one of those being his own manager, Mr Balfour. Mr Justice Dcnniston ..reserved his decision, and in an elabborate and most painstaking judgment .subsequently delivered, he completely exonerated Mr Leicester Matson and his brothers from any charge of fraud in the matter. His Honor held that Mr Copland, while giving his evidence honestly, bail failed to remember with accuracy the details of the conversation and discussion which took place before he signed the contract. In the end, I-Ti.s Honor made the order as prayed.