THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 262, 4 November 1932, Page 6

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING.

A new terror in stare for -witnesses ft suggested by Judge Cluer's order in Whitechapel County Court -fchac a man who said lie was a nonsmoker should bo given a cigar to seo if it made him sick —a result which would lie taken as evidence of his truthfulness (says the "Manchester Guardian"). Possibly the judge might claim precedent for such a practical test being referred ■to one ofi Lord Reading's earliest cases. As Mr. Rufus Isaacs he was defending a merchant sued by a street trader, who asserted that he had .been sold a case of figs that were unfit for consumption. Impatient of legal quibblings, the plaintiff turned on the young lawyer and announced, "You eat some of them, then, and if they don't make you sick I'll give in." The judge said he thought the offer eminently reasonable, but Mr. Isaacs hastily suggested that the right and proper person to make the test was the defendant. That merchant, looking most uncomfortable, inquired in a whisper, "What will happen if I refuse?" "Judgment will certainly be given against you," was the reply. "Then," said the defendant decisively, "I'd gather lose."