SHARP PRACTICE.

Patea Mail, 28 July 1881, Page 3

SHARP PRACTICE .

That was a ’cute of making a defendant pay the fee for plaintiff’s counsel, in the sheep impounding case at Patea Court. Mr Odgers had impounded Mr Derrett’s sheep, there being a sort of brotherly affection between the parties ; and Mr _ Derrett employed a counsel to “ best ” his dearly beloved enemy. The counsel found that the fence, over which the sheep had trespassed was not of the height required by a musty Taranaki Ordinance ; so the counsel advised Mr Derrett to sue fov recovery of poundage fees, it being illegal to impound sheep for trespassing over a fence below the legal height. He carried that point in Court. But a farther claim was set up for £5 as special damage Suffered by Mr Derrett in having bis sheep impounded. Then it became obvious that tfiis was the counsel’s device for raising Derrett’s claim over £5, so that on getting a verdict for the illegal impounding he would be entitled to squeeze two guineas more in “ costs ” as counsel’s fee. And it had to be paid too, although no serious attempt was made prove the special damage. O, those lawyers 1 Do they ever go to church ? Foolscap.

TOTAL WRECK of the p.s. SAMSON. New Plymouth, Wednesday. The steamer t'amson, which grounded at Waitara. ha.' become a total wreck on the south spit. She drifted on to the wreck of the Paterson, knocking a hole in the bottom. The engine-room filled with sand, and the engines shifted. The captain has abandoned her. Insured for £3OO in the South British.