SECRETARY TO SALEYARDS CO. V. HON JOHN MARTIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 903, 19 October 1881, Page 2

SECRETARY TO SALEYARDS CO. V. HON JOHN MARTIN.

To the Editor nf the Wairabapa Daiw. Sir,-Justice's justice is a proverb, but has it ever been known to equal the decision given by the R.M. in Featherston yesterday in the above case ? The claim was for two calls of Is 6d each on 25 shaves long overdue, and payment of which, after repeated applications, had been refused without any grounds being stated. The defence wps tlwt no more than 10 shares had bsen applied for, and that all calls on those had been paid. The plaintiff put in the .share register as evidence fas required by the Act) of shares held, and showed that 11815s in all had been paid, which was the amount due on 25 shares, being the 15s per share called up prior to the calls now sued for being made. As the shares are only 20s each, the fact of having made these payments was a clear admission by defendant of liability in 25 shares. The E.M., of course, admitted this at once, but now comes the singular point, He looted at the register and found one of the Is Cd calls entered to Mr Martin's credit as paid. The plaintiff swore that it was a mere clerical error, arising from his mistaking the column when entering some other payments, The defendant did not pretend to say it had been paid, and yet, to the utter as'omshment of everyone in Court, the R.M. held that the entry must be taken as proof of payment, and gave judgment for one call only. Is this either law or justice ? Most certainly not; yet, being decided, it is final, and being under £5, there is no appealing, so Mr Manin escapes a debt justly due. How long is this district to be subject to such decisions as this? A change in the administration of the law must be made. Critic,