MILL BOARDING HOUSE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 185, 5 August 1913, Page 2

MILL BOARDING HOUSE.

C_ADnt BY A COOK. i IIiSKErBO3SEXTAnO?f ALLEGED.

The management of a mTll cookhouse Bud boarding establishment wa-s tie sirbirct of a ca.se heard by Mr C. C. Kettle, r-.M., at the Magistrates Court to-day. John McKenzie, a cook, for whom Mr 3E. W. Burton appeared, sued J. Harrison, storekeeper, of Whangape (Mr Goulding), for £50 on the ground of misrepresentation, and for £17 1/ for work stated to have been done. The defendant lodged a counter-claim for £7 rent. •Mr Lurton explained that his client ihad been ind-uced by the defendant to take charge of a cookhouse and boardinghouse at "Whangape oh. the represenia•tion that it was a going concern with about 13 hoarders. On arrival he found ••that the place was ruinous, and he was employed for a month doing it up for •the defendant There were never more than two boarders, and the plaintiff lost T.ll he put into it, . He was in, a position ito claim £64 as profits that would have accrued-if things had-been as defendant represented, together with £4 4/ in respect of the excessive prices charged him by the defendant for stores. He was claiming, however, only £50, -with £17 0/ for his labour, at 11/ a day. The plaintiff stated that he was a cook by occupation, and had at one time been a carpenter. In October last he iheard that fcb.9 defendant wanted someone tv run a boarding-house s-t Wha4hgape. He went round to see him about ■it, and was told that a. married couple ;jvas wanted. Subsequently he saw an odvertisem-ent inserted in one of the reapers by the. defendant, and called on him a second time, as he was then able i<to say that lie contemplated getting mar-i3-ied. An agreement was arrived at by fwhich be was to undertake the managecment of- the boarding-house, paying 10/ -a. week rent, and buying oil his stores tfrom the defendant art 10 per cent above Auckland prices. He was given to understand that there teas a six-roomed house •jwith about 15 boarders (this being also stated in the advertisement), and that was to take it over as a going con--scern, with a considerable business in ijneals apart from the boarders. He did aiot get married before leasing, as his antended wished him to go ahead and isee how things were before they took ihe step. As a matter of fact, he added, -ithe venture turned out so badly that they 'hadn't got married yet. He got "lo Whangape on October' 29. "I found the cookhouse empty and -ruinous,'' he said. "There was nothing in it but the rats, -which infested it. You certainly couldn't call it a going concern." He spoke to Harrison, and the "latter promised to get carpenters in to ffepair it, but it was eventually arranged Shat the witness should do the work, staking all the materials from-defendant's -store. He spent raaetly a month papering the interior and doing the necessary eirpentry work about the place. The Iboaxding-bouse was fairly started about December 8, but from that time to February 1, when he closed down, he never had more than two boarders, and for a •time only one, with a few men in for meals. He started business -with about •£ls in hand, and when he closed down his cash was exhausted. Some time after his arrival he found that there were not more than eight or nine" white men in .place, so that the 16 boarders could never have existed. He" found that he conid not get away from Whangape, as ihe had no money, and Harrison would not assist him, but eventually b e shipped .on the latter's small steamer as cook, rfand got back to Auckland about the end iof the month. For the defendant, counsel stated that his case was that the plaintiff knew the position exactly as the result of the second interview with Harrison. The latter told him that the place was not a going concern, and made it clear that tbe "fifteen boarders" were not all permanently in residence, but some of them only came in for meals. The plaintiff was told everything, and there was no misrepresentation. Ihe case is proceeding.