THE PILLS CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 254, 24 October 1892, Page 4

THE PILLS CASE.

BEFORE THE APPEAL COURT.

(BY TELEGRAPH.— PBESS ASSOCIATION.)

Wellikgtox, this day. Th_ A__ Isnd case of Sharland and Co. v. the Commissioner of Trade and Custom, is being argued in the Appeal Court to-day. Tbe appeal is from a decisicu by Judge Conolly. Tbe case will be remembered as that in which the Commissioner obtained judgment against Messrs Sharland and Co. for £1,960, aa treble the value of four cases of pills consigned to tbem by A. E. White and Co., of London, on the ground that thoy were entered and duly paid bb " druggist iuodries," whereas tbey were alleged to bo in fact a " proprietory medicine." namely, Mother Siegel's pills. Tbe substantial grounds of appeal are that Judge Conolly found himself, without leaving the questions to the jury, that tbe pills were " proprietary medicines," and tbat their value was £633 6b Bd, inasmuch as tbe evidence at the trial showed that the pills were consigned in bulk, as " four cases pills, 4001b at 4s, £80," and that they were no entered and duty paid on tbat amount; that their value in bulk, i.e., beforo being put up in boxes and labelled, with Mother Siegel's trade mark was about 4s alb, and that they might be bought in tbut manner at that price, and sold by anyone as his own without the trade mark ; but tbat, in this case, it was intended to put the pills up in boxos, and label them with Mother Siegel's trade mark when their value would be 8s 6d per dozen boxes. Mr Theo. Cooper U appearing for Messre Sharland and Co., and Sir Robert Stout and Mr C. E. Button for tbe Commissioner of Customs.