SECOND EDITION. MAGISTERIAL.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1119, 30 November 1883, Page 3

SECOND EDITION. MAGISTERIAL.

PATEA—THIS DAY

(Before His Worship: the Mayor and Dr Croft, J.P’s.) CIVIL CASES.

HowiiT v*M£Kknzie.j /Mr Barton; for piaintiff applied for an adjournment till Tuesday ns ho.had received a tele-; gram from the defendant and it was likely the,case would,J>e settled. Colonial' LAni) ‘Settlement and! Endoavment Association v Nutsford —Claim £6. Mr Hamer ton appeared for plaintiff and;..said that this was a case under the Evidence Act. The defendant was a shareholder in the! Association. .. The Association were trying to force a call on the shareholders jWbich,.tUppe ,in,this ? and; this case was the outcome. :

Thomas:: Nntsford,^; the <; defendant,; said : I am a watchmaker, residing at; Pastes,'! hJ was| {indoeqd/ ]feke| np •hares in the Colonial Land Settlement and Endowment Association of New Zealand, Limited. I first heard'of the meetingip W>ngantli ? ,,, There was. a meeting called by Father Kiik to discuss the question of starting a fund fer the education of Catholics, as the* Government would" not assist them.; Owing to statements made by Mr London, Collector of Cnstoms, with regard to Mr the meeting broke up without doing anything. V- Sdme !time after4hlß I came to Patea, and Father . Grogan men-; tinned about the Association after, service at the church. ( ns to support it as a body. Father; Grogan,also stated that ‘Mr Cook, who! was then in Patea, - would be able to give os any information and receive applications. A great many look shares Irpm Mr Cook ; I took ten. Father Grogan told mo that Mr Copkhad informed him; that 15,000 shares bad been taken np. Document produced marked A was; handed to me by Mr Cook, and by endorsement on that document he’ authorised,,me, to -receive applications for, shares. I stated at ‘the’ time that] it was a poor, paltry prospectus, and asked him if he had not another. He then , banded me document niarked i B. I wits induced to; take oh the ropresentatiori'bf Father Grogan' and Mr Cook. I asked him with regard to the endorsement bn Document A: what commission would be allowed on| the sale of slikres. He’ answered there was no commission allowed for economy s sake. I have never received any separate notice for any,one of the four calls lam sued for. That produced is ft copy of the . Articles -, of , Association and -the Memoraridnm of Association. I have not received notice ns specified in rule 90, on page 28. I did not receive a : copy of the A'rliclcs until the end of July, 1888. That produced is the, balance-sheet sent.to me from Welling-.j-otov yOn receipt pf, balance-sheets a meeting of shareholders was held in Patea, at which it was decided to send a delegate to Wellington to ask questions ns to the report and balance-sheet. That produced is a copy of the notice I received under which Mr 0 Dea was sent to Wellington. I am not aware of any authority, nor have I heard of any whereby the Company’s money could be appropriated for bonuses. With regard to the item of £l6B lls Id commissions,

am not aware of any authority for that Mr Cook told me there was none. Tii re is an item £460 2s 9d, sftla'bs, 5 r which I nra not aware that there is any authority in our regain'ion?. With regard to the item “ To sn:i ’ry creditors £447 18s 4d,” I c.m not; understand it. In regard to the direction of the Company prior to the : meeting of July, the Hon. William Clifford, Mr Charles'and Jas. Cook appears ns the directors. By the mcmprnn-, dam the Hon William Clifford had only 10 shares. By the regulation* no one can bo a director who has hs* than 50 shares. I am aware that the animal meeting was not over till after the 27'h July. All my calls as per summons were made before the conclusion of the meeting. 1 received the document produced ns the result of the meeting. The Court here adjourned for an honr.

On resuming, the examination of Mr Nutsford was continued ns follows :

1 first decided to pay no calls to the Company in consequence of a conversation I had whh Mr Mellbone, then; living in Wanganui, wherein I ascer- ! tnined that a petition had been sent in: by a number of gentlemen to the! Directors, requesting them not to allow Mr Cook to travel for the Company, as, from his conduct, be was not a fit person to travel for the Company, and, in consequence of this petition, Mr Cook; returned Mr Melllionc’s application money, stating that the directors refused to allot him any shares This conversation resulted from the petition they forwarded from Wanganui to Wellington. If Mr Cook had represented the Company truly 1 would not have taken the shares.

James O’Den deposed as follows : I am a carpenter and builder, residing nr Pa tea. lam a shareholder in the Company, to the amount of eight shares. 1 was acting agent for the Company here.; That produced is my authority. I first; heard of the Company through seeing a telegram signed Cook and Brown ad-; dressed to Father Grogan. This was; on a Saturday. Tho next day at morning service the Rev Father Grogan stated, that Messrs Cook and Brown were, canvassing the country for shares to: (he Company, and stadng thr object Father Grogan told any who wished to: take up shares to remain in the church) after service. After service, no one remained to take np shares except myself.; Mr Cook asked me to go with him in: the afternoon in order to canvass for shares. . I went and we sold shares to two parties. In the evening Father Grogan stated he was surprised that no; shares were taken np, and he held out further inducements;} The inducements were that there would be an eventual benefit to shareholders, education of Catholic children, the advantage to the labouring! classes in the acquisition olland, etc. The result was that a great many people took np shares'at that itfghl’s service. There were representations made to me by Mr Cook as t> the prosperity of the Company. He said , that there were 100,000 shares or ; jß2 10s per share, but; that it was only contemplated to call np £1 per share. Mr« Cook asked me that night if I would go; round the district! with him the Wfpllowing day and show him where he would be likely to sell .shares. I did so,' and we were nearly everywhere wo went. , |le went away to Hawera after three) or four days, leaving me as agent,/giving mo a written; authority, and also inserting in the) Patea Mail my nitthority to net. AfterMr Cook left Patea, he returned and had a conversatibn/with me. He told me he had dispensed with, Mr Brown’s services, and sent him to Wellington with hardly enough to pay his passage.; He said he was aware that Mr Mellhond w s at the head of tho petition sent to Wellington to the directors calling him (Cobk) back to Wellington) Cook said if Mcllhone did not keep quiet he would do the same with him in; Auckland as he had Brown in Wanganui. After this conversation Cook left for Hawera again. I next heard from Cook at Auckland.; I received letter produced. That was the first letter I got from him. Previous' to this I had received the allotment paper! produced. [Left Sitting.jj