GROWING OF FLAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3846, 18 September 1928, Page 3

GROWING OF FLAX.

HAURAKI PLAINS VENTURE. FAILURE OF A CROP. CLAIM FOR DAMAGES MADE. The failure of a crop of flax seed sown on a farm on the Te Aroha Road, near Paeroa, w 7 as the subject of a substantial claim for damages partly heard in the Supreme Court at Auckland on Friday. The plaintiffs were the Hauraki Flaxgrowers and Hemp Producers, Ltd . (Mr. Holmden), and the defendants'Messrs Thorp Brothers, of Paeroa (Mr. Tuck). The plaintiffs claimed £338 15s special damages and £IOOO general damages. They claimed, the defendants undertook to prepare 21 acres for sowing flax seed and to sow it in drills, but that instead they sow 7 ed it broadcast and in a negligent manner and that as a result they lost the whole of the flax seed, valued at £3OO, failed to obtain the flax plants required and were delayed 12 months in their operations.

The defence was that the defendants w r ere not expert in handling flax, they were given a limited time in which to sow the seed, that it urns impossible to sow 7 the seed by drill ow 7 ing to its condition and that they sowed it in the only alternative manner possible, by broadcasting. They claimed the loss w 7 as due partly to the condition of the ground,, of which the plaintiffs had been warned by defendants, and partly to the drought. The case w r as heard by Mr. Justice Reed.

Mr. Holmden said the plaintiff company w 7 as formed in February of last year and had acquired about 2800 acres for flax-grow 7 ing. The manager collected about 3001 b. of flax seed of four different varieties and entered into negotiations with the defendants for the lease of nine acres of their land as a nursery. It w r as arranged defendants should plough and harrow 2A acres and sow there 3001 b. of flax seed in drills. Defendants afterwards sowed it broadcast over three-quarters of an acre, saying they could not sow it in drills. The company had lost all this flax seed, it had lost the rental paid the defendants, it had lost the manager’s services for the time spent on the w 7 ork and its ultimate returns had been postponed for a year. The manager of the plaiqtiff company, George'Craw, said he had expected to get about 5,000,000 plants from the area sown on defendants’ farm. In cross-examina-tion, witness said if the seed had been sow T n by drills the crop would have been satisfactory in spite of the drought and the ground being dirty. Mr. Tuck said the explanation of the failure of the crop was that the land was very thick with weeds and the season had been very dry. His Honour said the most serious suggestion w 7 as that the defendants practically stole the seed. Mr. Tuck said the reply was that the only two bags taken were old seed considered of no value. Both the defendants denied they had removed any of the flax plants, except a handful which they tested to see if they would transplant. The hearing was adjourned until Monday afternoon.