A CHEF AND A MENU.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 182, 31 January 1912, Page 2

A CHEF AND A MENU.

THOSE SAUSAGE ROLLS, i A BRIEF ENGAGEMENT. Allegations of soup tfyat was too watery, curry that would "burn your mouth out," sausage rolls that "'you could not put your teeth into," plums served up as stewed "which were just as if they had cotoe off the tree," and roast beef that was raw, were made at the Magistrate's Court yesterday morning before Mr. H. S. Fitzherbert, S.M., by the proprietor of the White Hart Hotel in defending a civil action on the part of the late chef of the establishment for the recovery of wages to the amount of £5 lis. Plaintiff (Julian Charpenel), for whom Mr. Hutchen appeared, stated in his evidence that he had been engaged for the position at an Auckland registry office at a salary of £3 per week He produced a batch of testimonials from several English steamship companies on whose boats he had been employed, and in denying the charges of incompetency stated that the reason for the partial failure of a few (foT others be admitted' no responsibility) of the dishes on the menu on the day on which he took up his duties was that the defendant i (G. W. Emeny) had not given him suffi-j cieht instructions or allowed him suffi- j cient time to familiarise himself with conditions appertaining to his work. This he had pointed out at the time, but without avail, being discharged at the end of the first day with only 9s wages. He considered it unjust that his trial was limited to one day's, instead of a I week's work. j According to the evidence of Michael Linan, second cook at the White Hart, and the plaintiff (Emeny), Charpenel's cookery had given rise to serious complaints both in the bar room and the dining-room. Defendant had, they contended, displayed gross incompetence, and did not even know how to cook a plain jam roll properly. As a matter of fact, the chef had, they alleged, actually put ho less than half a bottle of curry powder in the curry where a tablespoonfull would have been sufficient. Also he had been absent from duty on one occasion for forty minutes with two friends. Another witness (Mr. H. Willis) deposed that a sample of the cookery attributed to the plaintiff which had been shown him was badly done, pasty and heavy. The defence further urged that even if Charpenel proved his case he was only entitled to one week's wages in lieu of notice, In giving judgment for the amount claimed, with costs £1 16s, the Magistrate said that if plaintiff did not carry out his deities properly his employer could have sued him for damages or breach of contract. Mr. C. H. Weston appeared for Emeny.