A HARD CASE.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2429, 30 December 1880, Page 3

A HARD CASE.

The editor and proprietor of the Manawatu Times —Mr John D. Duncan —bitterly complains of the way in which he has been “ had ”, by a local solicitor named Staile. It appears that in August last Dungan sued Staile on a dishonored acceptance for £33, and Staile confessed judgment. In a judgment summons haring been issued, the bencli called on the plaintiff to show that Staile could and would not pay the money. Duugan thereupon put Staile and his clerk in the witness box, but they declined to give any insight into their business, and the case was dismissed. In a letter in the “ Times ” Mr Duugan sa3 r s: —Here is a man who months ago spent the money ho received to pay to me; a solicitor of the Supreme Court in good practice, and he swears that in four months he has not received seven shillings a day—not as much as a laborer on the roads. I waited nearly two years without asking for payment ; at the suggestion of the Magistrate I have taken adjournment after adjournment, thinking the defendant would be shamed into meeting his just debt, and now I am informed by the dispenser of Justice, after I have spent pounds of my own money, that I am as far off recovery as ever. Well, Mr Ward may have acted quite fairly and justly, and I leave the public to form their own judgment; but as I intend to lay the matter before the Minister of Justice, I will be certain on that point; while I will take care that the Law Society shall know something of one of the members of the profession in Palmerston.