WOMAN'S EVICTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 231, 30 September 1930, Page 8

WOMAN'S EVICTION.

ALLEGED SEIZURE OF STOCK

DAIRY FARM DISPUTE

CLAIM FOR £2SSO.

LARGE COUNTER-CLAIM.

Claims totalling £2530 for alleged trespass and .wrongful seizure of stock at Te Teko, in the. Bay of Plenty, 17 miles from Whakatane,. and a counterclaim for a total of £1055,. came before Mr. Justice Reed -in the Auckland Supreme Court to-day. Plaintiff was Mrs. Frances Hannah Sisley, of Te Teko (Mr. C. CγChalmers) and defendant was George. Powell, of Te Teko, farmer (Mr. E. H. Northcroft). It is expected the hearing will occupy two days. . The events leading up to the litigation had their origin ill an agreement dated August 8, 192!), under which the defendant was to lease to the plaintiff for four years and three months a dairy farm of 227 acres. By another agree-' rrient of the same date the plaintiff received 101 dairy cows from the defendant on bail. In October the plaintiff purchased eight additional dairy cows and two bulls from the defendant. Stock Driven Off. The agreement had been in force for only six months when the defendant broke into the leasehold lands in February of this year, stated plaintiff in the filed documents, and seized and drove off all the dairy cows which plaintiff had received from him and also 33 others. Later he returned all the stock to the plaintiff, except 17 cowe comprised in the bailment, 15 dairy cows belonging to the plaintiff, ten 18-month-old heifers and seven calves. On February 17 the defendant reentered the property and took possession of the leasehold lands, and had since deprived plaintiff of possession. / The claim included £25 damages for alleged trespass, £50 for alleged trespass in respect of stock, £350 for the alleged conversion of cattle, £250 in respect of alleged illegal and wrongful entry and £1855 in respect of the alleged seizure and conversion of the cattle. The defence was a denial of the major allegations, but an admission that the agreement had been made. In the counter-claim defendant sought to recover £110 under a guarantee by the plaintiff to pay £10 a month. The coun-ter-claim, under various heads, totalled £1055. Mother of Nine Children. In 1927 the property was leased by plaintiff's husband, but domestic differences had arisen, said Mr. Chalmers. Husband and wife agreed to separate, and it was arranged that Mrs. Sisley should take a fresh sub-lease and bailment of the stock. She was a woman with nine children, and the arrangement was that she should sign a guarantee for rates owing by her husband, Daniel Sisley, in respect of another property which he had agreed to buy from Powell. The lease and bailment were really one transaction, although they were separate documents, said Mr. Chalmers. Counsel added that the defendant was a Maori, who had several farms in the Bay. of Plenty, which were leased in the. same way as the property in question. (Proceeding.)