LOSS IN AN HOTEL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 68, 20 November 1913, Page 6

LOSS IN AN HOTEL.

WIM FOR THE HOTELKEEPER. [Per Phess Association.] Wanganui, November 19. An unusual case, but one oi' "«u----siuaraole interest to the tiavelling public and keepers of accommodation houses was heard by Mr Kerr, S.M., yesterday, when Mr D. Hutcbins, solicitor, of : New Plymouth, sued W. E. Halliday, licensee of Chevannes Hotel, "Wanganui, for the sum of £O, alleged to have been stolen from plaintiff when staying ail the defendant's hotel last September. ( The hotel at the time was crowded with race visitors, and the plaintiff had been accommodated with a shakedown in one of the passages. He stated in evidence that he°put his coat and vest, containing the monev, under his pillow. Next morning he went to the bathroom, leaving the coat on the bed. Next day, on arriving at New Plymouth, he found that the money was missing, and, contending that the defendant hotelkeeper was responsible for the loss, in failing to keep his valuables safe, he sued for the recovery. Defendant, in the course of his evidence, said he expected the plaintiff to take the ordinary common-sense precautions of anyone in similar circumstances.

The Magistrate said the whole case was one of facts, and whether the fact* proved that plaintiff acted prudently or otherwise under the circumstances. He thought the circumstances ought to hare suggested to plaintiff that he should have handed the valuables to the hotelkeeper for safe keeping, or that he should have taken them with him to the bathroom the next morning. He held that the plaintiff had not acted prudently and was not entitled to recover. Judgment was given for defendant with costs.