DOMINION NEWS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIV, Issue 9876, 25 July 1923, Page 6

DOMINION NEWS

SOLDIERS* BILL OF SALE. LAW FAVOURS THE CROWN'. (Per Press Association. l WANGANUI, July s lh Mr Barton, S.M,, gave an important judgment this morning in the case of the Crown v. the Wanganui Meat Freezing Company. The Crown sued the company as grantee « bill of sale given liy certain discharged soldiers under the provisions of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, 1915, the Crown functions in this transaction being exercised by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Dominion. The hill of sale in question was executed on February 10, 1920, the grantors being Henry David Cameron Simson #nd Albert Allan Street, farmers, of Wanganui, and it. assigned, by way of security' for advances under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act, certain live .-stock and the land comprising the farm. . „

Plaintiff’s' case - against defendant was that, on'. Or abottt April 4, 1922, whilst the bill dfi sale was in force, the defendants tooft delivery from Albert Allan Street, oiW Of the grantors, of 38 fat sheep, pawt- of the: stock comprised Jn the security, by way of purchase,"and paid to Street tire purchase price, ' £37 10s, thereby converting the sheep to the defendaht-’s' owflt use. Plaintiff alleged that- thh* was an unlawful dealing with; the property, amounting to wrongful! eonv-etswm, and therefore claimed to recover- the sum of £37 10s.

The Magistrate held that- the' bill of sale was a valid mortgage- of' chattels ffi tho legal estate. This.' legal- mortgage was not affected by the fact that the possession of the sheep? was- left with the grantor, for the considerations and reasons which led the I/egislature to pronounce such a bill of sale in-the hands of an ordinary commercial l holder to he sc discredited security eoiiMUiawe pio reference to the Crown.

Judgment was given for plaintiff* ffsr the amount claimed, with costs, • _£i£2 M* 63...

FALL FROM BRIDGE. AUCKLAND, July 24?. Daniel McGrath, 54, single, wag found dead under the Swanson railway bridge this evening. It is thought that he overbalanced while leaning ion the rail of the bridge and fell into the gully, a distance of 60 feet. He was a resident of Swanson.

j SHOT IN THE FOOT. I CHRISTCHURfCH, This Day. Robert W. Deeming, a single man, \vlio resides at Waddington, was out rabbiting yesterday, when he was accidentally shot in the left foot. He was climbing over a fence with the gun pointing downwards, and it accident-j ally went off. He was admitted to the Christchurch Hospital, but his injury is not serious.

COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE. WANGANUI, July 24. At tho Magistrate’s Court to-day, John Craig Neill, Clerk-in-charge of the branch office at Te Aro, of the Labour Department, pleaded guilty to the theft of £lO3 16s. men the defalcations were discovered he surrendered to the police. He was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. CHARGES OF BIGAMY. ELTHAM, July 24. Charges of bigamy against George Dines and Elizabeth Bishop were admitted at the Magistrate’s Court to-day, also five counts against Dines of making a false declaration to the Registrar of Births respecting five children of the bigamous marriage. Accused pleaded guilty to all charges, and were committed to the Supreme Court at New Plymouth for sentence. Bail was allowed. Regarding the declaration concerning the children’s births, the police stated that Dines informed the Registrar that he and Mrs Bishop were married m England in 1910.1 n a statement Dines said that he lived with the Bishbps for two weeks in 1914. When .he left, Mrs Bishop accompanied .him tie married her in Wellington m 1918, believing the marriage legal, as William Bishop had given a false name. DUNEDIN EXHIBITION. DUNEDIN, July 24. The memorandum of prospectus of the New Zeeland and South Seas Exhibition Coir- ' ray has been signed the provision ■ directors, and the company will sh irtly he registered. An active canvas of the city for financial support may he mi V so that the -company may proceed to allotment.