RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT (DUNEDIN).

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 248, 5 December 1873, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT (DUNEDIN).

Fbiday, November 28th. ] (Before I. N. Watt, Esq., 8..M.) 1 Pearce v. Abbot. —Claim, £254, reduced to £IOO to bring the claim within the ju- ' risdiction of the Court, for services rendered, and £lO lor additional services. Mr. F. It. Chapman for plaintiff, Mr. Stout for defendant. :—William Pardon Pearce, contractor, stated that in October last lie had business transactions with defendant in connection with work for the Mount Ida head race. Witness had tendered, his tender had been accepted, part of the work had been done, and he had thrown up the contract .in consequence of the badness of the weather. Had a perfect knowledge of the ground, and made out.the quantitiesifor the defendant. The usual payment for this was lj per cent. Fixing the quantities requires an intimate knowledge of tlio ground. _ Defendant' has entered upon the works in pursuance of witness' contract," taking advantage of his calculations* Oil speaking to the de- | fendant about tendering, witness told him that P e r cent was the amount to be deposited, but found out afterwards that the printed clause, fixing 10 per cent, as the deposit, had not been erased, as. in other tenders. Defendant thereupon said, as witness knew the officials he should eni deavor to get the _ reduced. After a great deal ot\ trouble witness got ? it reduced. t-o 5 per] cent., for . which he jMaautrged £10 —a verysfnuswiaM® aioount. s-exiiminerl: /Witness understood were to be and tlaeErdefento pav

services but as the d '.'end i>u rr;iucli.Ucd the p&rinership witness sued him for commission.! Djfcudant did not off.T witness a mile ol» two of this, ecm'raet for hiai'stflf, but did say>he was eareles-: about tendering, and Asked witness if lie could get. some one else to go in with.—George O'Brien, civil engineer, said, on looking at a drawing attached to the contract, he would be' unable to take out the quantities for . the contract without seeing the ground. Tenderers generally tender-ac-cording to the quantities furnished b/ a man who a business' of estimating quantities, to whom the unsuccessful tenderers give a small douceur, and the. successful one gives I|' per cent, on the amount. If the same man also fixed the prices he would be entitled to another per cent. —Counsel for plaintiff then read a letter from Messrs. Macassey and Co., demanding the amount claimed, for plaintiff, and also an answer to it from defendant, in which the latter stated " that he had never had any business connection whatever" with plaintiff, and "therefore was at a loss to understand the letter."— Charles Abbot, defendant, said he had spoken with plaintiff about the contract, but declined to tender for it with him, although) plaintiff gave him a tender form filled up with the word " we." Plaintiff then asked if he could get a portion of the. contract,: and witness said he would give him a mile or two. f Witness received notice that 10 per cent, deposit should have been paid instead of 2h, and, on seeing Mr. Bastings. with reference to it, that gentleman said " the Government had been so humbugged by Pearce and characters of that sort that they had determined to make the deposit payable' 10 per cent., so as to get respectable • people to tender." . Witness managed to get the Government to reduce the deposits to 5 .per cent., but it was riot owing-to: plaintiff s exertions. Anybody could take out the quantities in a quarter-of-an-hour. -r- Gross-examined: Plaintiff was not considered a respectable contractor, but still witness let the tender go in plaintiff's handwriting, and afterwards gave him a part of the contract, but the latter was out of pure charity.— John Turnbull, grocer, produced a letter from plaintiff, in which it was alleged that he was partner with defendant in a £IO,OOO contract.- —This closed the case, plaintiff referring Worship to the case of Bum v. Miller, 4 Taunton, 745, as bearing on this matter. Judgment was reserved.