THE SKINNING OF SKINNER.

A BUCOLIC BOOT-SELLER.

Fanciful Figure for a Farm.

The Story of the Sale — Badly Beaten by Bannerman — What Radcliffe Disclosed— The Case m Court— What the Jury Thought— A Substantial Verdict— The Biter Bitten.

A Ohristchurch gentleman m the boot line of business named William Skinner fell among Christians when he deemed to undertake farming on a comparatively large soale m the upper reaches of the Wanganui River. Skinner is a tradesman puxe and simple, and it was merely Ms . business incapacity that compelled him m July last year to compound with, his creditors for 10s m the £.' Skinner was sick of boots afoont this time and thirsted for the simple life m the back blocks, when he met an extremely respectable, plausible and eloquent 'land and commassion agent named John Gordon Bannerman, doing ,faUSHi«ss m Ohristofaurofo, who had >;_.'■ A WHITE ELEPHANT ". of a sheep farm that he wanted to get rid of. It is called Ruameka,. situated below Pipfciki, on the New Zealand Rhine, -and is passed daily m season by hundreds of tourists who enrich the Hatrick steamer monopoly, to the chagrin of t«he settlers. It comprises 715 acres of medium freehold and 2,000 acres of worthless leasehold — according to the statement of the Government valuer. The advantages of the farm were painted m glowing colors by Bannerman, who described the land as being capable of carrying two sheep to the acre, whereas his own witnesses later stated that a sheep and a half could about subsist thereon, whilst = other independent persons mentioned a sheep and a quarter during winter. The half sheep and the quarter sheep do not literally graze on the unsubstantial herbage ; the sheep fractions are demanded merely by the laws of arithmetic. Also, Bannerman enlarged upon the riches to be derived from an 80 acre orchard, principally of cherries, and with the of 1 an after-dinner prospectus over the proceeuangs, Skinner, who was shortly to be skinned, visited the property m company with Bannerman. Hereabouts it might be mentioned that two years ago Bannerman engajged a practical farmer named James RiadclifFe to manage the farm as if it were his very oWn, and the history of his connection with the matter is a story of sheep m gradually decreasing numtjiers on poor, over--stocked fcund. The freehold land, said ■Radclaffe afterwards to Mr Justice Siim, wasn't capable of ! fattening wethers, as 'had »been reprei sented to Skinner by Bannerman, and the most it could do was to produce forward stores. 'But as Skinner didn't know a wether from a wool pack it didn't matter much. As for the cherry crop, Radcliße harvested and disposed of it m 1908, and' found himself £7 to £10 m debt on the deal. The giant Wanganui is of no value to the property, whioh is almost waterless m summer, and the property is a disastrous one m a general way of speaking. In fact, Bannerman, in' A MOMENT OF MENTAL 1 DISTRACTION, -once wrote telling Radclifie that the place was a curse to him, and he. wanted to get rid of it, even at a» sacrifice. He wrote further that he relied on Radclitte to give possible buyers a favoraible impression of the place. 'Moreover, the impression should be Postered Ishat Radclifie owned the farm, and to this end Banmerman's name wasn't to appear m any of the documents. Meantime, stories of the wealth to 'be derived from the property were poured into .the deluded ear of Skinner, wbo proceeded up the. Wanganui with great enthusiasm. ißanneronan wrote ■warm'ngly to Radclifie to keep out of the way as much as possible wfoen Skinner put m an appearance, and on no account to mention m the latter's presence the sheep lost fey ibleing worried jby Maori dogs. 'Everything was to be the color of the rose, and a magnificent polish was to be on the landscape like the? shine on the best "foalniorals" that Skmmer used to sell at 32s 6d a pair. Skinner believed everything, and undoubtedly Bannerman "saw him coming" very far up the street before he made these elaborate preparations.to receive him. Bannerman wanted to make sure, however. Said Radcliffe m the Supreme Court, Christchurch, last week, when Skinner sued! Bannerman for £400 damages for misrepresentation :— "On the Monday, when Skinner wasshown kwer the place, Bamnerman wanted me to write -a wire that there, was a man named Brown coming up' the river on Thursday to buy the facm, and I was to sign the wire WITH ANY NAME I LIKED. Banaerman. said that he wanted to ■show it to Skinner to bring off tlie ; deal. After a little discussion we went into the kitchen and my wife wrote the wire. After that we went ♦behind the wood-house and talked over a proposal to take the wire m to Skinner. Just then my boy came ; m with the mail and there was a . telegrann stating that a party was coming up the river. Bannerman took the ware saying, 'Just the very thing/ and w«ent into the diningroom. I gaiaiexed that Bannerman intended using the wire to hurry up Skinner into making the bargain. Skinner m-ade the purchase that morning-." The unhsjppy boot vendor agreed to purchase tfee run as a going concern for £7,700, including a mortgage of £3,600 ; wfaereas Alfred Edward Barnes, (Government valuer, valued the property at £4,045, and Bannerman himself told the court that he had purchased the property m I'JOT for £5,025, spending, roughly, £1000 on vjaiprovemeaits. Skinner's purchase money was to be obtained by the sale of his boot biz., also, his Ohristchtiroh residence, besides the houses of Miss SKinner and Miss Holmes. In fact, he made a clean sweep of his possessions and was helped by his connections. One clause of the agreement was that SKinner should use the whole of the proceeds from wool sales for bushfelling, m spite of the fact that wool was the only source of income and Skinner

and family were to live on faith or the invigorating Wanganui air. There certainly was mention of Skinner opening up a large and lucrative business m 'boots with the Maoris, but as the bare feet of the natives an these remote fortresses are conspicuous objects "on the landscape, this is merely taken as proving that, after all, Bannerman possesses a sense of humor, particularly as Skinner was to sell no stock without first acquainting Bannerman. Well, Skinner took possession t and found things m such a ghastly state and so diametrically opposite to what he bad expected that he made frantic efforts to get put of the bad bargain. But HE WAS HELD TOO FAST. Stock was dying with embarrassing

About him there's no fudge, His Honor, the ex-judge. He's daily m fine fettle. He's kind and severe, Sometimes quaint, sometimes queer, But don't try to outpoint S.M Kettle.

regularity, and Skinner was m angry corraspondonca with Bajmerman when he sold some lamibs without mentioning the circumstance to the Christchurch person who had him m his clutches. Then Bannerman had the .appalling audacity to have Skinner arrested on a charge of sheep stealing, Skinner was committed for trial, and, toeing for the time moneyless, spent an interval m gaol. Tne duplicity of agent Bannerman was so transparent to the Judge of the Supreme Court that he instructed the Grand Jury to throw out the

Though new to the role, he's game to j the core, For tMs legal gent is well versed m Law's lore ; He can bully and bounce, and does soundly trounce The battered old rook or the desperate crook;; Just a word of advice when you're* tackled by Ostler, Take aU sorts of oare that (he doesn'tjostle yer.

bill against Skinner, and the Grand. Jury did so with great enthusiasm. Skinner next instituted an action to ; recover £4000 damages for misrepre-isentation!—-and won it. It was heard Taafore Mr Justice-Sim last week, Lawyer G-resson emphasising the deplorable success of Skinner m impersonating the flat taken down by the commercial Christian, and Mr T. Gr. flussell defended Bannerman. The jury had a large proportion of thick, sympathetic underlip m it, and the astute Gresson appealed to their feelings with surprising results. The dozen residents found for Skinner and awarded him £1587 10s, which is a much larger sum than most people expected ; but Christchurch juries are m the habit of doing unusual things, and the bottom dog m the case deserved it.