MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 56, 31 March 1909, Page 4

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

ACiEST OR PRINCIPAL? { Some hours were occupied in hearing the dispute P. D. McGregor (Mr. F. E. Wilson) v. liindstrom and Co. (Mr. Strang. a claim for £!) ()s Id for BB hides, goods sold anil delivered. The plaintiff, a fanner oil the Barrett road, also contractor for the destruction of condemned stock in this district, gave evidence that the gross and net weights shown in the statement of elaim were correct. The price agreed upon for the hides on 11th November was 4%d per lb. In January he sold some heavy hides to defendant at 17s each. The hides were counted and weighed in defendant's presence. He put in a slip showing weights jotted down at the. time, part of the figuring being done by the defendant. He had received £46 13s 7d, and £9 On Id was still owing. To Mr. Strang: When Lindstrom called on him he brought a telegram with him and showed it to plaintiff, but he did not see the signature a»id did not know who had sent it. (Telegram put in.) Lindstrom at first offered 4d [h ilb for the hides, then i'/jd, 4'/ 2 d, and 4%d, but plaintiff refused to sell. lie did not offer 3d or Gd. Upon Lindstrom showing him the telegram in which 4%i was offered, he agreed to sell at that figure, upon defendant saying lie could give no more. He had always found Lindstrom a good payer until the last two deals. The hides had to be shipped on the following day, and Lindstroni assisted in sweeping and weighing. His weighing apparatus was in good order. The hides missed Saturday's steamer. Witness had nothing to do with the shipping of the hides; all.he had to do was to put them on the railway trucks at New Plymouth. He knew this pared was going north, but he signed no consignment note. Lindstrom paid him £3l On the morning of Boxing Day, and showed him account sales of the hide*. There was some mention of a shortage but witness replied that the shortage had nothing to do with him (McGregor). Lindstrom said he would see that plaintiff got the balance of his money. He called to sec defendant several times,! and on 7th January he got a cheque for £ll. The cheques given were approximately for the amounts of tjhe account sales shown. He had nothing to do witli the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. The Magistrate said he was really not concerned with defendant's dealings with the Loan and Mercantile. He had to decide whether or not the plaintiff sold these goods to defendant at the . price stated. Re-examined: He 'had never sold hides | to Lindstrom other than direct, a:id their dealings ran into probably £SUU. This was just an ordinary sale. Lindstrom bought the majority of his hides. The rest he sold locally. For the defence, Mr. Strang contended that the defendant was plaintiff's agent in this transaction. The sale of the heavy hides in January was admitted. Gustaf Hjalmer Lindstrom, a tanner,! carrying on business at I'itzrov under the style of 'Lindstrom and Co., remembered receiving a telegram ki December from the Loan arid Mercantile enquiring for hides. He had none on hand. The ; plaintiff had done witness a favor, so lie ' went to see him, and offered him favor for favor, showing him the telegram received. The plaintiff read it over and over again. He would not swear that McGregor saw the signature. Plaintiff seemed to think the price ottered was a good one, and agreed to tfupply the order. He assisted in getting the hides ready. It took plaintiff fully a quarter of an hour to get the scales into working order. Witness did not check the weights at all, for he was not personally interested. He pointed out to the plaintiff that he would have to pay freight to Auckland, and lie told him, too, that, the freight was 10s a ton. -Some of the hides were inferior, having the hair off in places. He would not have bought hides in such condition. He did not count them. He allowed McGregor to ship in his (witness') name, and he wrote to the Union Steam Ship Company, instructing them to forward them to the Loan and Mercantile at Auckland in his name. The hides did not catch the first steamer, and he heard of this on the following Tuesday from the Auckland firm. He found the goods had been forwarded by the Northern Steamship Company, but without instructions from him. Received the account sales of 47 hides on 20th December, and went to McGregor, -who informed him that there were 66 hides sold. He hart paid McGregor the full amount of the account sales. The Auckland cheques were in his favor, and he paid the plaintiff with his (defendant's) cheques. McGregor said lie wanted payment 'for the full amount, and he. replied that the sale had not been to Lindstroni but through him as agent, The prices realised -were higher than would have liecn olitaifted in Taranaki during that month. The plaintiff had said that he did not know where the liides were going, but the fact remained that he had shipped them to the Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. To ill'. Wilson: Tie denied that his defence was trumped up oi account of the hides bringing less than lie expected. If the hides had brought Gd a pound McGregor would have got the whole amount.

To His Worship: I deny that the pale was made to me direct. In the absence of any evidence corroborative of either of the conflicting storiefi. His Worship said he must decide upon the probabilities. and they were in favor of the plaintiff, wfoose evidence disclosed an ordinary transaction. Tlic defendant told a most extraordinary story, which ivas quit'- at variance with his conr-! 1 of action. Judgment would be for the plaintiff for the amount claimed, and costs £1 17s.