SUPREME COURT—CIVIL SITTINGS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5399, 17 July 1878, Page 3

SUPREME COURT—CIVIL SITTINGS.

Tuesday, Jolt 16. (Before his Honor Mr. Justice Richmond and a special jury.) EDMUND BUCKBIDGE V. HERBERT SAMUEL WAROELL. Mr. Izard opened the defendant's case, and called— Thomas Ingley, who stated: I am a market gardener at Timaru, I have been in the colony 23 years, and was at Peatherston workiog.at fencing with-three mates in 1857 or 1858. Parsons was one of the party. I was at Barling's Hotel one night, and offered to buy acre 116 from Alzdorf, who, with the publican's daughter, Mias Sarah Barling, was sitting by the kitchen fire. I offered Alzdorf £5 for the corner acre, and he said he would take£B. I said all right, and borrowed the

money from the landlord to pay for it, Parsons and I agreed to go halves, and I left i-Parsons to get the receipt. When this-witness was giving evidence as

to Mr. Alzdorf having given him a receipt for /-'the purchase money for-acre 116, it was objected by Mr, Barton that Alzdorf should have been cross-examined on this point. It pwas stated that be could be recalled. ' Mr, Barton : Seeing that Alzdorf was made drunk last night, and is now locked up, —I can ” produce evidence of that. At all events it is a •very strange thing. Mr. Izard: there is no foundation for a

charge of that kind. Mr. Barton: It is a very strange thing that Alzdbtf _was never asked a word of that yes- , . terday. By some means or other—l won’t say anything now, except the fact, —he was made drunk and lacked up. s;f : His Honor: I do’ not think it is proper to

’ ‘throw’ but any insinuations at present—for this rnasoat lb is never proper to make them unless *• you can support them. I':] - Mr. Barton: I can support them. His Honor: There is time enough, but do not

I'-, open them. Mr. Alzdorfs account of him- __ _se]f, and the account that the other surveyor ; gave |of him, and of the two, make it any- ' thing but surprising that Mr.* Alzdorf is in the state that be is said to be in now. The truth is, I thought it very possible that they • would have to appear again, and it crossed my mind that they might be in such a state that ' , I would find it necessary to place him where " he now is. It seemed to me that they would take this opportunity of behaving as Mr. . Alzdorf has behaved. I will be with you in ..impressing, the. other side to any extent that is f 1 necessary, but I object to such statements .being made before the evidence is given. It is it disgraceful imputation on the other side. Mr. Izard: And without a syllable of foun- • dation. The man was given into custody by the sheriff, and not by us at alb ■ Mr. Baker, sheriff: I gave Alzdorf into custody yesterday for being drunk in the Supremo Court. ;;■■■ • Mr. Barton: Oh, I see. -.' His Honor; 1 should have done so if I had

, ..known he was drunk in this place. Mr, Barton; We had extreme difficulty in »u shepherding him yesterday from six o’clock in . the morning, i His Honor :He is shepherded now effec- -. .tnaily. s-'-'iHr. Baker: He was drank herein.the Court. .... , Mr. Barton : He was not misbehaving him- ' self. ' Zi ' His Honor : I won’t say that the sheriff has % not power to do that; bat we won’t go into that question. r Witness then said : Parsons obtained the re- ' ceipt ■ f tam Mr. Alzdorf, and placed it in Mrs. A -Barling’s hands. He described how, on the . contract being completed, be and Parsons went I' to Carterton, where the receipt was put by ■ the witness behind the rafter in a cottage where they lived. He told Parsons that it was tho receipt be bad placed there. 1 Ho and Parsons ; Caine to Wellington, and on their way left a / ;lot of papers at Buckridge’s house at the Taita. je! He had good reason to believe that the receipt was then given 1 over to old Mr, Buckridge, ’.forhe. never saw it after. Witness went on to ‘ say:—Parsons never paid me any of the money; ■ When Parsons was going to the Otago diggings < I asked him to see Buckridge about those 1 ’papers, and when I asked hint qfterwards u if Be had spoken about the receipt, he i - said ■“ it clean slipped his memory,” I , . said to him, “Bill, whalf arc yon going to do about that acre 1 Let us have an understanding about it.” By advice I wrote on a piece of paper a statement that Parsons “consigned” *’ his interest in tho acre to me, and he made his mark to it. He was no scholar, and my wife , was no scholar, and consequently they both , made: a cross to the agreement. I cannot i --recollect the date when this was done. [The ’ , receipt was dated 13th April, 1859.] I did / not fcinow what my wife had done with tho v-receipt, and I afterwards found it between the - wallplate and the rafter of an old whare I used to live in at Greytown. Some four or - five years ago a lot of my things, including all letters and papers I knew of, were, burned in i an. outhouse of my son’s at Carterton, where 1 they were stored prior to sale. After I bought acre ,110 I planted a lot of plum trees and cabbages Jn- it. Afterwards different people hsed- to be in Occupation of the acre. When - 'old Buckrldie was leaving Wairarapa I asked him who was in occupation of tho acre, and rr-he ■said,-"“Now, don’t bo’poking borax at me k' "about the acre. Come and have a drink.-” ' I * don’t‘know‘what borax means. Old Buck- ” ridge knew I had a claim to the aero, for ho repeatedly asked mb to tell it.

Here Mr. Barton stated that a son of the witness wai constantly coming into the Court, standing near the door, and going to the room where the witnesses were. (All witnesses had been ordered out of Court). Witness : I went to the place in the Patoa District where Alzilorf was living, about four miles from Hawera. I asked him if lie recollected my buying the corner acre from him in Featherston, and he said " Yes.” I asked him why he had not signed a deed sent to him by a solicitor, and he replied, ” I was on the burst, and neglected it.” Afterwards Alzdorf signed the deed on Soowarn's counter, in'the presence of George Helyer and others. The deed was afterwards to be taken to the place of Mr. Livingstone, a magistrate I walked four miles on a very wet day to get Alzdorf sober, and to get him to sign it before Mr. Livingstone. That was three or four days after it was signed on the bar counter, when Alzdorf had got a little bit square. Before I started for Hawera I saw. Mr. Wardell in the telegraph office, and told him that the acre was mine. Mr. Warded asked me if I had really sold, the acre to anyone, and I said I had not. Mr. Wardoll said if ho had known the acre had been mine bo would like to have bought it. I said, “No man would have got it on easier terms than yourself.” He said, “ What will you take for the acre.” I said, “ £loo.’ A sale was agreed upon, and he paid -£5 down on the same day. Mr. Warded drew out an agreement, which I signed. I authorised my son to get the rest of the money. I was afterwards told the land was very cheap. Yesterday Alzdorf asked me to have®, drink, and we went to an hotel, and Alzdorf, after expressing surprise at seeing me here, said, “ I have put myself iu for six years.” It was about two o’clock, and he did hot seem the worse for liquor. .. ■Cross-examined by . Mr.. Barton : I went away to Patea to get Alzdorfs signature to the conveyance before the case in which Wig- - gins summoned me and Faber for .trespass was decided by Mr. Warded. It had been adjourned in order to admit of my going to gat something from Alzdorf to show I had a title. The case was settled before I came back, and I complained of this, for Faber and I had been ordered to pay damages. I could not say how much I spent at Seowem’s during the time I was there. I signed a cheque for£lo, which had been filled in for me, after I had been there for one day, and it was understood that he was not to present the cheque. Ad hands were very much • the worse of liquor, except myself. I kept pretty fair. Young Alzdorf and others called for drinks,, which were put down to me. I threw lots of drinks away. I was keeping sober, so as to get Alzdorf sober, and go to a magistrate’s to sign the deed. I went to Scowern’s house on the sth April, and left on the 11th., I remained at Hawera for a month or six weeks, because I was shart of money, and could not get back. The witness was examined at great length as . to the dates at which particular matters of importance took place, and his evidence was anything but clear as to things that happened on his trip to Hawera. At the adjournment foaluncb, Mr. Barton asked that the age of the document, which was dated 1859, purporting ,to be a transfer by Paisons to Ingley should be tested, by having a portion of it placed iu a copying press to see it the ink would come off.

Mr. Izard said he could not consent to that being done. Witness, to his Honor: It was afterl’sold the property to Mr. Wardell that! found in the old whare the transfer by Parsons to me, I showed it to no one outside my own family until it was produced iu Wellington. When I found it I took it to Timaru. I. saw the receipt Alzdorf gave in Barling’s, but I do not know whether it was in Parsons’ name. , (Receipt by Alzdorf to Parsons handed to witness). I have every reason to believe that is the receipt. Tho price was £s, and not £9. To Mr. Barton : I went to Lyttelton in the Wellington, and might have gone by the name of Joseph Hayward. I went on the 27th July, 187.6, and did not return. The signature to the deed, Thos. Ingley to H. S. Wardell, dated 26th August, 1876, is mine. I signed the deed in Mr. Beard’s offije at Greyfcown, and cannot say whether the date is correct. I wrote the transfer to Parsons myself, and Parsons put his mark to it in the presence of my wife. At Mr. Barton’s request the witness wrote at the table a copy of the following transfer:—

Greytown', April 13,1859. I herein consign over to Thos. Ingley all right, title, and Interest in No. 110 section of land, situated in Feafcherston. his William x Parsons. her mark. Witness—Mrs. Eliza x Ingley.

mark. I never, instructed a deed to be prepared conveying the land by the Udys to me, dated 23rd August, 1876, in which I am describedas a settler, Peatherston. At that date I was in Timaru, I authorised my son Joseph to close the bargain with Mr.Wardell. (Deed, Ingley to ‘Wardell, 26th August, 1876, handed to witness).- 'The signature is in my writing. The sum of £5 .is the only money I have received for the acre ; my son Joseph got the rest. I found the transfer by Parsons to me pinned in my pocket book. I did not know it was there until X received a telegram sent to me from Timaru *by my wife. In re-examination' by Mr. Izard nothing of much importance was elicited. Henry Burling, a settler residing at' Moroa, stated: In 1858 I kept an hotel in Peatherston. T saw Ingley pay to Alzdorf the purchase money for acre 116, Peatherston, over eighteen years ago, in my hotel. Ingley gave to my wife the receipt he got from Alzdorf, for her to keep until he repaid the, £8 he had borrowed to pay for the acre. Old Mr. Buckridge told me that Bill Parsons had sold him the land, but X said that could not be, as Parsons had no receipt for the land. I heard Mr. Alz-lorf say yesterday that he had put himself in for 'six years, but wbat it was for I could not tell. I judged it was about this land affair. Cross-examined by Mr. Barton: Mr, Ingley’s son did not tell me what was going on in Court when he came out. I know my son had this land from old Mr. Buckridge for a year or two.

John Tally, sheep-farmer and land valuator, Greytown, said that in 1876 section 116 was worth about £IOO.

William Thomas Wyatt, chief clerk in the Land Office, produced an authority, signed by W,- Alzdorf, to deliver grant for section* 116, Peatherston. * .

Mary Ann Udy said ; In 1858, when I was in-service at Captain Darlyon’a at the Untt. my father, Mr. Ingley, produced to me a small piece of paper, stating he had bought an acre for £8 or £9. It stated—“ Beoeived from Thomas- Ingley tbo. sum’of £9 for acre 116.” I believe it has been destroyed by fire. Tho paper on which the writing was was coarse, and looked like a sheet out of a pocket-book. (Receipt Alzdorf to Parsons banded to witness.) It was similar to this. As well as I could recollect I should say that is the same paper my father showed me at Captain Oarlyon’s. Walter Alzdorf recalled, and examined by Mr. Izard : The letter addressed to Mr. Holdsworth, dated June 13, 1876, is in my writing, and I gave it to Ingley to give to Mr. Heldswprth.

To his Honor : I do not remember' what house I- was in when I gave it; I think it was Prosser’s public-house. I recolleot giving that on the strength of the letter I' received from Mr. Beetbam. :

To Mr. Izard : The letter was written on the date which it bears.- The letter was as follows; —“Hawera, Juno 13,1876.—J.G.Holdsworth, Esq.—Mr. Thomas Ingley holds the-transfer deed for section No. 116, Peatherston, Wairarapa. Ha was the original purchaser from me.— Walteu Aiznoiu'.”

By Mr. Barton : I wrote it relying on the statement made by Mr. Beetbam that Ingley was entitled to the land. I had a drink with Ingley and Barling yesterday. We went together to a public-house. Ingley shouted. I did not say, “ I know what I have done. I have put myself in for six years.” Mr. Buck, who is in Court, heard tho conversation, and I think Mr.'Wyleswas there. In 18581 only signed the paper in favor of Parsons. I did not sign one to ,Ingley. I can’t say who gave me in charge in Court yesterday. I was not making a noise or disturbing anyone. I was not particularly drunk. I was a little intoxicated. I was brought up this morning, and was fined ss. The constable gave evidence. - I* have met tho defendant in'Wellington once or, twice, I had no drinks with him. I was not in a publichouse yesterday morning with any of the Mr, Bunnys. -

Philip Joshua Beotham, solicitor, Groytown, stated : I prepared a conveyance, dated 15th April, 187 C, Alzdorf to Ingley, at the request of Ingley, and sent it to Walter Von Alzdorf, at Hawera, with a letter asking him to execute the conveyance. The letter stated—“ You will recollect selling the land to Mr. Ingley, my client, in 1859. At the time, you wore assisting to survey the township of ITeatlierston. Mr, - Ingley is anxious to get the conveyance from you completed, as ho is about to sell the land, and cannot do so until the conveyance is executed, ns ho merely holds a receipt for the sum of £9, purporting to bo the purchase money of the land.” ! Crewe-examined by Mr, Barfon : Ingley fold

me he bad bought the land from Alzdorf. Ingley told me he had a receipt for £9 from Alzdorf/but I did not see it. This closed the case for the defendant, and the Court adjourned at a quarter past six uutxl ten o’clock next morning.