RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 353, 18 April 1868, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

(Before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M.) Thursday, April 16. a dancb-girl. case. — goff v. foyne. The plaintiff and defendant were both proprietors of dancing saloons, the former at Greymouth and the latter at Charleston, The plaintiff sought to recover the sum of LIOO as damages sustained by him through the defendant having enticed away from his service two dance-girls, named Margaret Brittain and Mary Thomas, they being his hired servants. Mr Perkins, with whom was Mr Guinness, appeared for the plaintiff. The defendant did not appear, and was Unrepresented by counsel. Mr Guineas, after reminding the Bench that this was the second action which the plaintiff had been compelled to take to vindicate his lawful rights, stated the case, which was briefly as follows :— The plaintiff, at great expense, brought several young woman over from Melbourne to act as dance-girls at the Victoria saloon under an agreement to. serve him for a specified time. The two females referred to in the action were both in the plaintiff's employment when, some time in March last, the defendant, by offering them a higher salary, induced them to leave without proper notice and without having completed their engagements. The plaintiff was made aware of the defendant's proceeding, and cautioned him against taking the. girls away. He also served -him with a written notice that he would hold defendant responsible for enticing away his. s it vants. The defendant took no heed ofithe caution he had received, .but took the' girls away to Charleston. The plaintiff had suffered great loss in consequence, as. his receipts fell off, and he was compelled to dispose of his business, although the. race week was approaching. R. B. Goff deposed that when he became, aware that the plaintiff was endeavoring to induce his girls to leave, he went into Hunt's Hotel, and there saw the defendant and a man named Sampson sitting with the girls in a parlor. He cautioned him against taking them away, and afterwards gave him a written notice from a solicitor. The girls went by the Wallabi to Charleston, and he saw the defendant pay for their passages. He had suffered great loss through the girls leaving. His receipts fell off L 7 or L 8 per night after they left. Had they remained, he could have cleared Ll5O during the race week. He was so disgusted, however, at the way he had been treated that he gave up the house. R. Nancarrow remembered a man taking tickets for two females by the Wallabi .to Charleston. He. did not know the defendant, nor could he tell if it were him. It was a little man who took the tickets. — Soloman was in the employment of the plaintiff when the two girls left. He saw them with the, defendant at Hunt's Hotel, along with a man named Sampson, who was M.C, a,t the defendant's Casino, Mary Thomas, one of the girls in question, stated that she left Mr Goff s employment because she was offered higherwages if she would go to Charleston. Her evidence generally was against the defendant, although she endeavored to make Sampson the responsible party, Mr Perkins addressed the Bench, and pressed for heavy damages. His Worship considered the case proved and gave judgment for the full amount claimed and costs.