DEAL IN OIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 58, 29 July 1914, Page 6

DEAL IN OIL.

litk;at:>x thi; ntriuOUE. AUCOL'aTS ASKKU Foil. la.-l week, be'ioiv His Honor Mr. Justice! iim, the hearing eras continued oi i wish in wliitii Hie plainiilf nought to have set aside certain docuuicnts between tJiu parlies. The plaiiUiti' is Arthur Ernest. Otway, engineer, of IJhrislchurch, iiinl till' ili'fi'inliiiit JYrc.y Artlmr Herman, agent, of (hri.-tchuivii. Mr McGregor, with Jiim Mr. A. E. Wright, appiarcd for the. plaintiff, anil -Mr M. .Myers., uit/li 'him Mr A. 11. Aniliony, for tin; defendant. I'I.AL\"J.'IEE\S CLAIMS. Plaintiff set out thai in May, 101-2, lie was tile holder of -an option"to purchase from one Tru.'.uus U il. Nichoho certain rights to bore Jor in. on S201) aeres of iand al' liifjl.-'wnoil (Taranaki) lor a period if !2 \ears. On .July 11. ISI2, p.ainliil' and tlie defend;: .it en'iert'.l ,'iiuo ,an agreement iv.aercby plaintul agreed to s'hare w.itli defendant tins righto and interests mentioned. 1" | August, IIH2, defendant arranired with Air. Nieholls to form a eoipauv wilh a capital of £40,0(11), of winch thirt.' thousand £1 shares, fully paid up, were tv ho issued' to -Mr. Nicho Is to form a company with a capital of £40,000, of which thirty thousand fl shares, fully paid up, were to lie issued to Mr or about August 13. 1012. a company for the purpose contemplated was'registered at Chrislehurch. Of the to he issued to Mr. Nicho'lls. On it was agreed between him and the. defendant that he should retain as his own property 15(H) shares, and the balance, 28,300, he was 1 1 ho d as trusu*o for the plaintiir and defendant, the 1500 shares, plus £SO paid and a sum of £1.50!) to he subsequently paid being accepted hy Nicholls ..is the full purclmse for the. fights o.or Sillfl acres, Between the date of issue of the shaves and Deceinher Hi, 1013, a large nninber of fully paid-up shave•; were told on the joint account of |i ain(ill and defendant .'Tim defendant had full charge and control over all arrangements, financial ami otherwise, relating to the sale of the -hares. The plaintiiV, who was not a tmincd business man, relief! so'ely on the business knowledge and integrity of ihc defendant in regard to all tbe transactions. In IVc-niber, !!)12, plaintiff applied he ilef-icb-it for a statement of si ares soil am! nonevs received, and aflei- eon-idei-ali 1 -: pressure the defendant produced to the plaintiff a state-ni'-ut showing that shares to the number of 11.450 had been sohl. equaling £11,150, and al-n an account purporting t;> show all amounts received and expended. Plaintiir was then in great need of nioncv and was entirely under th» inlluonce of ihc defendant in ail matters relating to IV statement. The defendant had never given plaintiff fl copy of the statement, and the onl<opportunity plaintiff .had bad of seeing it, was for a short tiime in 101-2. U»'ying on defendant's good faith and honest dealing, plaintiff, signed the statement as correct and satisfied ovr. and the defendant had since retained the stateuient and account.. The plaintiff Ired recently ascertained that, prior /to December, 101-2, the. defendant had sold 500 shares In excess of the 11,150 sfit-d to Messrs. Friedlander Tiros, for £.500. l'revi;:iis to December 10. 1012. defer-d-int represented to plaintiff that ■!)■» had transferred to a Mr E'worthv fiC-l shares, valued at £SOO, for '2oo' share--ve'iied at 5s e-.u-h in (he Christ-.'hmvh Cil Company. Plaintiff had, he alleged recently found that the representation was untrue, as while (lie defendant did sell 50 shares to Mr Elworthy he sold the shares for f.500 rash, and instead o r crediting plaintiir with £250 ('hereof V transferred Ir, plaintiff OVistelmrcb " shares of (he. nominal value of £250. s;:<-li shares being the property not ol Mr. Klwortl'.y out the property of de feiidant. I'lainiilV recited a lengthy ii-t o-' transact!' ns. and allowed that &•:■ fondant had been guilty of fraudulent, and false representation.-".

The plaintiff claimed: (a) T!:;it ilic account an-;! set! lenient of Oocfor.li • ll', 1012, and (he two deeds of Febrnar' IS, 1!)]:!, and April -M. 1013, he respectively declared not, to he bindin.; o,i tlie plaintiff, and be set aside accordingly, (b) That, all accounts betwec ' tlie plaintiff .and the defendant relating '. [he rights, 'options.- and concessions and shares to he re-opened as from duly 11', 101:2. (ci That, the defendant he ordered to tile an account show' ail his dealings with the rights, optionsconcessions and shares .since dulv 11, Hll'2, tlie p'aintill' being willing and ottering be- give the defendant credit :'o>all moneys received or benefits dcrivc'i by him und.-r the lioeunients. (d) That the defendant be ordered to pay to tho plaintiff such amount as on the faking of the account shall appear to be t\\tf by defendant. tu> the plaintiff. TJIU DEFENCE. The dcfe.'idarit, in liis statement of defence, said tie plaintiff took an active part in -cling the .shares, and he denied that the plaintiff relied on his (dcfowhiif.'■) knowledge and intogritv Accounts were fumis'lied to plainti!" without any pressure, and plaintiff was also furnished from Licue. to time with copies fir his own use. , Plaintiff signed the account mentioned in Hie statement of claim after having ox.aiuin"d it and satisticd himself as to its accuracy. The books and vouchers relating thereto were from time to inno shown t"i■ p'ain fill's. The share, montiorod bv the plaintiff, to vim number of 1(K)0 ami not .")(K. were not actually sold to Fried - li nder Bros., hut were, sold provisioiiallv only. A deposit of foOt) was paid by Kriedlandcr itros., who took a transfer of the shaves. Defendant said he re(•lived no ca-h from Mr. Klworthv in ri-pect of si arcs in the Consolidated (iii Fields of Taranaki, Ltd. lie. Uans'ftired 500 Glares, with the knowledge

! nd consent if the plaintiff, in exchange !'.:i other -hares in the Ohrislchurch (hi Coinpauv of tlie same, nominal value, and on December UK 1012, hj" trnnfirred half of the latter to plaintiff. Oi-tendant denied he made anv fal-e or fiauduleut i'i presentations to th" ]>;aiutili'.