A LAND DEAL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9631, 11 June 1919, Page 4

A LAND DEAL.

FARMER SUES fIOENT.

' CHIIISTCHURCH, Sunn 11. The hearing of the ca^o, Henry J. 1 Alley, (farmer, Bumham, v, . William Alkn Hopkins, of ChristchsGoroh,. knd agent, claim for £2-500 damages, for] 'alleged misrepresentation, and £400 damages for alleged fa&ire to carry out an undertaking, was eoTJ<tinued bofore his Honour, Mr. Jastice Herdman, and a special jury of 'twelve, yestferday. ■ Mr M. J. Gresfimi.-'wi'tVMm Mr K." M. Gresson, apptsared fer plaitififf, and Mr S. P. Skercett, K.G., with him Mr A. C. Fryer, for defendant.

Mr Skerrett applied for a reon-suit | 011 both claims. ■ ! His Honour -said lie- <lifl not propose j to. withdraw the 'cihum in regard to al- \ leged misrepresentation ifrorn the! j jury. . I Mr Skerrett thereupon applied for j leave, to apply for a Tiom-smt later on. His Honour said he would withdraw : the second part of the plaintiff's claim j I from t-li© jury on the ground that tlio i alleged .'contract to advance moneys j was too indefinite and um-wtain TTp granted 'Mr Skerrett leave *o appl for a non-suit on the JirM. f w^e o action withm seven days' ot th^ con , elusion .Of >ihe. trial. '. Sidney 'Smith, farmer, Lincoln, s.ud he had worked on .the faim in qu< •» lion for four and a-half yeais, pmcti I callv a.s manager for hi« father Jie j had left- the place iri. 1907' The} <airietl about 1009 sheep on the place, and , up to 2000 at times 1 for periods of fi om two to three months. He liad mspw \ <ec! the- farm recently, and found it in .a deplorable state, whitet the pasture wsvs; run out. Tlie cutting down oi > j plantation on. the property reduce'! 1 He ! value of the place by a substnnml ■amount. ■"Witness cjstimatpd the \.hu j of tilie•••'property" when he .inspected it [uti&l per'acre. If it were }Hit jn pro i-per order lie would' put a 1 aluo ot LI3 on. it~' ' i &(»r^ Cooper, farmer, Smuhbi hlc<* j snidhe owiied the'Ayfes'oim piop^rn i about nine or t : en years' ago, and wn , i farming • it'for'eighteen' months He i paid'£S:ss an a<ro wish, and '.old rt in | way 1 of exchange'to a Sir Belcher for j£].lan acre. He carried flofce on 300 ; ewes-'a-na 500 '; lambs,, and uopped I aboufc 100 acres'. In action to his wos i:.he-:-bt)ii'jrht stbreß possibly 200, and fattened them. He thought the la?id was worth £1,1 per a.ere when he «-oj<l it, and considered £13 per aue v^ i fair value;ot the present time ! John■•ltieliard Belcher, fannei Clirif' | church; said he was the second rin.i .jgasee of the Ayle^bury faun, lie hro inp taken I'the raortgage orc^r fion* Lv bi-other. ,Ho know the propel t\ A practical fanner wouW ' giow utincuJ re.Gjd,,-au<J. L renew his ; .gra«fi«> Witues. rfttid ' he' Had recently insp^ctod the property, and found it in a tad condi* tion, . whiio. the grasses had run outt He did.not consider* the plantation I should hay© been cut do* n It made i a "difference, of. anything fi om £1 u> { 30s pca 1 acre in the v»hi» of tli«» Is-ml ! In .its present condition the pn>pt"i\^ j was worth about £11 per a<re, fcot if it were improved one would get anything up -to £12 10s or iil3 loi lit.. " ■• /•■ ' -■ .

James Lyou, sbeepfarmcr, said ho had iuspect-ed tho AyJesbury, plaw? in. .April la»st for the purpose oj; buying .Ji in. cxchan§o.;fpi;.;»-property,of. his-. Tho pricia. putVpon'the Aylesbury property and an adjoining 250 mzqs of lighter land was £11 10s>-" wEiuh, witnesK. considered,-, was its .'.value. If Alley coukl go on with tlio ■ ■.original agreenwint witness was preparwl vt6 t-ako his pl.'K-e still for £11 10s.: _ ' .

Herbert Henry Cook, land a^eut, Christohurch,. s:iid he knew ihtt A>k»»bury farm. He had be-en requested vi April last to make a report on the property at. the request of. Messrs Bowron and Smith, James Lyon'* mortgagees. In his -report he said the Land would carry ones and a-half sheep to the acre, and it could readily .be sojid at £12 an .acre. This vahuition included 276 acres of k-asehokl land. On the 718 acres only he would.pla.ee a capital value of £18 10s per. acre". In an ordinary .season, with the place in proper order, it would carry 10U0 ewes and about 400 dry sheep, smd would fatten the lambs. Land this la«t twelve months was up-fully from 5 to 10 per cent. After the action commenced Alley reduced the price'of his land and carrying capacity from one and a-hajf. sheep to one. This would be about the beginning of May. He considered that the cutting down, of the plantations 'depreciated the value of. the land. *

William Allan Hopkins, the plaintiff, said lie did not profess to value 1 -sheep or agricultural country; ho confined his valuation to city and -suburban property. Witness said the '■ advertisement which had been referred to had been drawn up by Clarence McFadden, a member of the land departmont. Mci Faddeu, who was now at' the front, j had inspected the farm several times. Alley never showed witness the printed advertisement, nor had he shown .it to witness's clerk in his presence. Alley appeared to have inspected both the Aylesbury and a Hororata property before he came back to interview witness. At this interview Alley said he could not possibly acquire the Aylesbury property Wore disposing of his Geraldine farm, for which he wanted £18 an acre. The price of Aylesbury, £14, had been given him aLready. It was arranged that day, however, that the price should bo L'l'i. St I was untrue that he (witness) wanted to make an exchange there and then without his inspecting the Geraldine property. Except what had been told him by "the late owner, ho had no idea what "stock the farm carried. Thero was no statement that he was to find all stock. He. had to find Alloy reasonable financial accommodation in order to buy stock. There was no discussion as to the. amount. As far as witness was concerned, the carrying capacity was not gone into at all; it was absolutely untrue that he- gave any guarantees. The followng week witness went down to Geraldino. . to see Alley. Nothing was said at the interview about the carrying capacity of Aylesbury. Witness agreed to give him reasonable financial assistance, and also to capitalise the first year's interest. The amount of financial assistance was not discussed, nor any mention mad© of £2000. The price of the Aylosbury property was £9334, subject to a first mortgaao of £4564 and a second.of £1292. The. reference in the contract to a third mortgage of £4000 was to the balance of purchase money owing to him by one Craighead. At Alley's request he guaranteed an overdraft of £500 at the Union Bank early in December, 1915. Alley did not ask for more, and made no objection to. witness' guaranteeing it at the 'bank.rather. than advancing it himself. What had be&v