CLAIM FOR HAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 22, 9 June 1939, Page 4

CLAIM FOR HAY

SHAREMILKER. succeeds CASE AT WHAKATANE George.. Flavell sharemilker (Mi* Smith) who claimed £10 from George' Samuel Whiteside (Mr Barry) as an amount due under a sharemilkin4 agreement, and also a set_off f was successful when the case was heard before Mr E. L. Walton, S.M., at 1 the monthly sitting of the Whaka--1 tane Magistrate's Court on Thursday. The evidence would show that Fla. 1 veil entered into a sharemilking y agreement with Whiteside, said Mr ? Barry. The agreement stipulated 1 that Flavell should leave a stack of 36 tons of hay when he left the property. This was the amount of hay " when Flavell came on to the farm ? I rut Flavell was now disputing the fact thai there was approximately II 36 tons of hay in a stack when he ' took ever, though he had signed the agreement. ''The agreement might be fraudu. 5 lent'' said Mr Walton. "The only way I can form an opinion is to hear all the evidence." SIZE OF STACK . Mr Barry said Flavell as a practical farmer should be able to tell whe. I tlier there was 36 tons or 20 tons of hay in a stack. He did not in any way dispute the agreement until he left the farm. When he did so he i left 29 tons of hay behind him. : Eleven tons were useless, and an IS ; ton stack had been so badly roofed . that a certain quantity had rotted. Mr Whiteside did not wish to be too hard on Flavell as it had been a bad season, so he only deducted £10 from the sharemilker's cheque. G. S. Whiteside said Flavell nevcr questioned .the amount of hay on the farm when he took it over. The big stack which was put up by Flavell was roofed incorrectly. ' Mr Barry asked what was the state of the stacks. Defendant said that he had taken a drawing of the stacks which the Magistrate might like to see. Mr Walton: You answer your counsel's ONE-THIRD ROTTEN Defendant said that one-third of the larger stack was rotten. The smaller stack was completely rotten and useless. Jones, the previous owner, said Mr Smithy had said thait he had cut his hay from an eight acre paddock. He asked defendant if he would not con. sider a crop of two and a half tons to the acre a good one. Whiteside said that would be altogether too small to suit him. He thought the average might be five tons. James Shaw, farm manager, Otnkiri, gave evidence concerning the bad quality o£ the hay left on the farm by Flavell. George William Whiteside, farm manager, confirmed the fact that the hay in the big stack had been affected by rain. The hay in the smaller stack was in a bad statf; when it was built. It had been flooded and was not fit for stacking. PLAINTIFF'S BELIEF Mr Smith said that plaintiff's case was that he expected to have to provide an equ f 1 quantity of hay to that on the farm when he took over. Jones, the previous farmer, cut hishay fro:;: an eight acre paddock and ■Flavell did the same. Jones had stat. Ed that th"r e we r e 20 tons stacked when he left the farm, and Flavell left over 2i> tons. Plaintiff did everything possible to leave the hay in good condition. He built one stack with competent labour, and cut and i built »another stack but the hay in this, unfortunately, was flood ed by a storm. ''I think it is a case of taking acL , 1 vantage of a man because he was .i. , sharemilker, and I think there wa? ' no moral justification for Mr Whiteside behaving as he did," said Mr Smith. EVIDENCE OF FARMER Giving evidence far plaintiff, John j farmer, of Otakiri, saici the roof on the stack which Jones „ left was half blown off and a good deal of hay war wasted. He thought - the quality of Flavell's largest stack was good. There was some damage by water. H e agreed that the hav in the smaller stack was poor, but the cows ate some of it. Plaintiff said that when he took t over the farm his assumption w<>s c that he would have to leave an a_ r mount of hay cut from the same c area a.« Jones had harvested. The . stack h e left was built by a compet- ~ ent man. He did his best to dry the hay he put in the small stack. Hi: . did everything he could t 0 leave sat. isfactory hay. L. McC. Crystal, Otakiri, who P built the stack left by Flavell, aLo 5 gave evidence. 5 The magistrate gav e judgment for 1 plaintiff for £10 and costs on the one 1 1 S claim, and judgment with cost s for J plaintiff on the counter claim. r