Resident Magistrate's Court, Foxton.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue II, 10 December 1889, Page 2

Resident Magistrate's Court, Foxton.

■■■ ; — "'■'■♦ ' — y-u'- v - •■'• ( Reiore B\ W. Braba^ffi^^iLil'". and J, levies, EsqvyJ.]?.) WsDNESDvV/ 4th December, McKee v. ' Jack * Co.— Claim Mi* Baker for p'aintiff ; Mi-' Skerrett for defendant. .„ William J. McKee, being* sworn*, said— I came from Taranaki to obtain work at the flax mills ; I worked for Jack & Co before I entered into a contract ; Mr Stewart thought a contract would be more satisfactory ; 1 was working at 30s a ton before! entered into a contract for the scutching, pressing; and paddocking, they were made by word of mouth and then by writing in June ; Mr Stewart askod me to write a contract out and then he would reply by letter ; we entered into the scutching and pressing contract first; I sent a written j offer (letter put in) '(-Mr Skerrett; here drew the Clerk's 'attention to the letter not being stamped). Mr Baker said he intended to put in a later letter, which would have been written three months, to which lie would attach the stamp duty, 2s 6d< with 25 per. cent fine. The R.M. said he would wait till he had seen all the letters. McXee continued, said— l subsequently received a letter from Mr Stewart referring to that contract (letter produced) ; the words at the bottom of the letter are '• your contract is only with me" These • contracts were for scutching and;pressing and paddooking; I received ah • other letter from Mr Stewart (producer!. . After argument Mr Baker paid £10 5s to tbe Clerk of the Court, on the understanding that if the Stamp Commissionership assesses the fine at less, the balance would be returned. McKee's evidence continued— l made an offer to paddock all the stripped fibre ; the letter produced is the acceptance of it ; I had no other I letters from Mr Stewart in reference to the contract; the engine-driver objected to my working, , overtime, and the words " your contract is with me only" referred to this. After entering into this contract Mr Stewart remained as manager for Jack & Co for several months ; ' all ' jtbe letters referred to the contracts to be peformed at Jack & CVs mill; the reason I looked upon M* Stewartas Jack and Co's representative was that he employed me/as their rep^sdhtative ; I have always been willing to carry out my contract. Durjng the time I was working, the mill was never stopped owing to the paddocks being full, they wew never quite full- all flax stripped was scutched, pressed and, baled by me. The mill was stopped oii several occasions; the last time, Graham stopped it, and sent hands out into fhepaddock, saying I was not doing th > work right and said he had written to tell Messrs Jack so; he .►aid the flax was becoming damaged through wet weather; ho did not say what I ought to have done ; he made no reques 1 ; whatever for me to do anything; I had no notice that he was going to put the men in. the paddocks ; the men hanked the flax; -up and left it there ; they did more harm than good ; I had five men employed ; after the men were sent out the mill could have gone on ; I told Graham that I would not recognise, any work his men had done; the mill was stopped on one or two . occasions for want of green flax ; the mill was veiy often stopped from the strippers "towing " up ; Mr. Stewart told me on several occasions that I was doing the work : very well ; Graham saw the flax sent away, that was lying on the ground when his men went out ; I had no complaints from Graham except this occasion; G.abara has had no experience in flax ; the contract had cost me for paddocking £7 7s a week, I had 5 men, and then wages and food came to this sum ; I had, 81 weeks of contract ( o run; I had -averaged 6£ tons per week from the date of th« contract; T scutched, pressed, and baled about 5 tons per week if all time vw utea we could

liavo put through GA tons . I had 8 ?jQeu besides myself, 2 scutchew 30s a, week and found,- e^'ia"! 'to a week, apd h.«ttker tit 20s a week and fo«urt, aad myself 48s a week. I only make 40s a week profit; Mr James Jack dismissed We in October, ho said he did not Want me there, that j I eaald take a week's notice anA go ; I told him very wefy it Was breakingthe contract, and I should expeJt oo^upensation ; he said I was not getting through enough fibre; the mill was not stopped for that reason ; I cannot tell any re&son for my being<lisniissed; I have be n unable to •obtain a permanent jo^ •: this wo.k is generally contract wOrk ; about a ioriuigki; after t entered into tW? contract I brought my family' d'dwn ; Mr Stewatfc, since my dismissal, examittoci my work and saul it was very well done"; Graham told me except I worked as k& wanted me to, ho would saako it warm for me, this was whist Mr Stetyarc was manag r ; he wan ed m© to ignore Mr Stewart. 'Gross examined by Mr Skerr. tt — Mr Stewart asked me to write Ihe Jetfcer; I gave him the letter; Mr Stewart has had his letter of acceptances in his ;pesߧssion ; Mr Stewart said he wfelied to see them again ; it was *aYtte time before Mr Stewart left (the mill j. I got the contract in J'w.D.6, I think I gave the loite?s to ?ar Stewart in August { I luinded the acceptances after the mill w. s burnt down ; I believed I did ask for them back again itt October, in Mr Stewart's house, and because Mr Jack wanted to see them ; I asked for the "Coattacts aud he said that Mr Jack hsfi better come and see them him"self; I never told him they were my property ; I cannot say why , I roeeiyed a letter of 19th September ; I agree with the statement in Mr - Stewart's letter that " Your contract

is with me and no other person/ I have nothing to say against it, unless it was impossible it was my duty to keep pacd with the stripper ; if flax is not carefully turned it does become dark in colour ; in fine weather the flax should be left five or sis days before it is turned ; it shou'd I)e turned every fourth or fifth day. Flax from being washed should be spread in the paddock, but may bo left four or five days without any injury to it ; flax ought not to be turned moro in wet weather than in fine. "When Graham came into the field I. was not behind with tho scutchimg ; the scutching shed was not finite full, the fibre shed was full, had about three acres available ; the, shed was half full beforo the mill was burnt down ; I remember Graiiam calling my attention to the fact that flax in a paddock was conij letely spoilt ; Nimrao was with him ;it was mot spoilt, the flax was of dark col nir front bad stripping and bad washing ; if had spoken at different times to Graiam. about it ; I think it was raining hard that day ; the grass had grown partly through the flax ; tho rain had beat the fibre down through the grass ; I cannot say when it had been last turned ; the other fibre was not spoiling for want of attention ; two paddocks were ready to take in; Graham's men hanked a lot up; the mill was not stopped on account of the scutching being behind; Mr Jack wanted to see tho contract, as he was very much in doubt if there was one ; I believe I told Mr Stewart that Mr Jack wanted to see the contract, as he doubted the existence of it ; The contract stated the bales were not to excee:l 4£ cwt ; (Mr Skerrett read tho weights from witnesses own 1 oolc, and the weights were all over the 4 J cwt, mostly 5 cwt ;) from AI arch 2ti, to Sept. 26, 75 tons were, turned out for the 6 months ; after the mill was burnt down, 7th Sep. to 23rd Oct. just 80 tons were turned out ; the contract at 42s 6d would be of some use, at 38s 6d I should not make much out of it, I would sooner havtf been without it.

Be examined by Mr Baker—The statement about not paying me, was taking into consideration that I had a contract at 80* for the large bales ; I should not have made any more profit out of the small bales at 42s Odas I did out of the 80s; Mi Stewart asked me for the letters; I do not know the reason he asked me for them; he did not tell me what he wanted them for ; I do not think I had the letters in my posession for more than 2Jmonths; I told Mr Jock that Mr Stewart had them ; 1 had no dealing with Mr Stewart in any other capacity than ns Man nger of the mill; n» ither Messrs Stewart or Graham rejected any of the flax at the mill; I drew Graham's attention to the lot of the flax when baled, to which he had objected to in the paddock, h * said it

loofcerl very well ; TYi wet woathe you eannofc keep ftax from becoming dark ; it was n fair thing to leave the sheil three parts full ; two scutelMfrH cannot keep two strippers goiD^. 3". W Stewart being sworn sairl I Jnlaim to ba a member of the firm of .Tack & Co ; I have not raised an nntfon in the Supreme Court ; I wns acting- in that capacity wnen I entered into these contracts ; the letters produced were written by me and Mclvee; tho remarks in my lettor that " your contract is with me and no other," means me as representative of the company ; the work was to be done to my satisfaction ; I ceased to go out to the mil! on 25th September; I objected to John Graham ; the mill was' stopped by want of presses ; He «ould not do so much even with 2 presses when small bales, as he could do with one press with the larger bales ; when the mill was burnt down the scutcher and fibre sheds were chocked full, and the paddocks three paTts full ; Ido not know when I asked for the letters back, I do no think I told Me Kee the| reasons ; one evening: he came in for them and said Mr Jack wanted them ; I said Jack could see them: McKee said he Wanted them. I found Graham a very inexperienced man, he came with very good certifi sates but found they were not true ; I had a good opportunity to judge of his inexperience and wrote to the .Tack's saying I had to keep on another engineer on account of this ; I am speaking in the interests of the mill, and as one of the de f endants ; when I was at the mill the fibre house was unduly full after tho fir#;rj:»d6}hsbt thifik McKee was idle a moment ; I ordered the men not to obey Graham ; some! of the flax was of darkish colour, but it was.oldflax. It was to my benefit to have the

.*heds kept full; on one occasion the padflocks were full ; the mill provi ilecl the "padlocks ;. lf the strip* pingwa:; 1 bad it was impossible to make good work without great waste. Cross examined by Mr Skerrett — I was very proud of Mclvees work ; the money passed through my hands was £2uoo, the boiler was not paid by me' Avith the boiler it cost say .£3000 ; I:p to the time of my sever ance the Jack's had received 75 tons of flax ; I stated to Messrs Jack that McKee was under contract but did not say it was for 12 months ; my letter.? do not say the area of flax or length of time; the letters of Me KWs I rofused to deliver up simply bficaii6e I wanted Jack's to come to nic for them ; it may havo hurt Me Ivee but it did not hurt the Jack's. I think I have hud as much experi euce as Walden. Being late Mr Skerrot applied to put a witness of his in the box, as he was about leaving the district, John Thorpe Jbeing sworn said I have had considerable experience in flax'drassing this year ; I had the paddockingi of Jack's mill ; the mill was burnt down in July : there wa" about G or 7 tons in the fire shod, the paddocks were nearly full : Just before MeKee was dismipsod, I .noticed the fibre was very bad, because the gross 'wiis going through nnd nearly over it; 'the weather wasfairly dry considering ; there was a want of hands in the paddock, the flax should have been turned 'before it was ; some of the -flax had not boon turned for a fortnight ; What I noticed would have involved very considerably. .loss* to : the mill ; the paddocks were full and milt fttopped the day McKee had the discussion with Graham ; McKee was behind with all his work ; McKee was work* ing for me before he got the contract from me ; I heard a conversation between McKee and Graham ; Graham B^4 the,, flax, was spoiling, McKee saia li was 'not. ; r • Cross examined by Mr Baker — Jack & Co were sleeping at our house ; they aye, , fiiendfl, of, mine ; Do not consider Stewart was ; was aware of disagreement between Stewart and Jack ; there are no negotiations betw.eenJFack and me new ; I studied the, flax; £v ; Jack '&, Go's paddocks partly* to g6t experience; If not properly .washed the flax is darkened Vls4w 7 or 8 tons of the flax that was dark in the field, washed ; I was sheltering .. from the rain; I saw the 'flax washed and nkenbythe cart' to the paddock ; there were, about 5 tons, of flax in tho paddocij &at wa? jbl&ck : I ! do not mean to say I Saw the whole of the paddock ; there was only 5 tona diseo'oured and I saw 2 tons washed, and it was, not washed siifflciently ; the rti'ire raih'thfre is, 'the more it s turned, the better the colour is ; ] nra a farmer at present ; T work about the place ; I watched thft washing of the flax, 5 hours nt a tiuiA wb;oq rnnfing, .half Yin hriur. when «fvie •• Ti lam- prepaivfl to nay that Jac-r &. Co moived less valuo fov the flax :■ ,l have had n » convor sntitm with ihom ' Mr ftrnhnm nslcp<l nnj<t(»ex;rt;Mno paddocks, nnd sheds o,i ny of tho complaint : T>. liad vnt bfton very wet ; T nm prpjiarod to surorjf thnt no jpnrt of thft fi bro' wn« toiiolvfifl oa . I crossed tho paddoch eve.y dij- ■•; I heard Grahnm object to this flnx ; Cnrtor made go d work th'« partTCrtlnr week. Tte-efamfnert by i! Mr Skorrfltt— Tho fl^^aVlnot had enough Avnsliing; f'^^pu'^ps only snperseedocf o weeks ««•«. ' ' ' Tho oasftMns ia^Jdurniod'tb'FHflay, 13th >*nfif.