ROAD BOARD SUED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 282, 28 November 1929, Page 11

ROAD BOARD SUED.

ENGINEER CLAIMS £2199. ALLEGED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES A claim for £199 for professional services rendered was made by Samuel Trevor Dibble against the Mount Wellington Road Board before Mr. Justice Blair in the Supreme Court this morning. Plaintiff was formerly consulting engineer to the board.

Dibble made his claim in respect of services alleged to have been rendered in his capacity as engineer to the board from 1925 to 1928. Thirty-one items were listed in the original claim. A large number of these were either abandoned or referred to arbitration by agreement.

Mr. Dickson and Mr. Fiddes represented plaintiff, and Mr. Towle appeared for the board.

It was admitted 'by the board that in gome instances plaintiff was entitled to he paid, but it disputed the reasonableness of the amount claimed. The board had paid into Court £268 in settlement of the claims, and it further counterclaimed for £56, which was allegedly overpaid to the plaintiff, and for a further £65 for the hire of a road roller.

"The items to come before the Court have been reduced by negotiations ,to six op seven," said Mr. Dickson. "It is for plaintiff to prove that he was instructed to do the work for which he claims the money. In the event of the Court being satisfied that he was instructed, the parties" agree to refer to arbitration the question of the amount owing." . , .

. In evidence, the plaintiff, a registered surveyor, said he was appointed engineer to the Mount Wellington Road Board in November, 1924. He , had prepared plans for 'bitumen work on two roads, which it was later decided to lay down in concrete, so that the plans were not actually used. He did not agree not to charge for that work. He was asking 15 guineas for a contour plan for a road at Sylvia Park, which was not gone on with. When he resigned from, the hoard they asked him to reconsider his decision, but he refused.