APPEAL COURT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14099, 19 July 1911, Page 7

APPEAL COURT.

AN AKAROA CASE. (SPTCIKL TO "THB P-tEfIS.") 1 WELLINGTON, Jnly 18. In the Court of Appeal to-day.a case of some interest to Canterbury was heard. It relates to the sale of land at Akaroa. The parties to the suit are Messrs' William Pidgeon, fanner, Okairts Bay, Henry Osborne Devenisb Mearee, and James Hugh Williams, solicitors, plaintiffs, and Francis Narbey, farmer, Akaroa, defendant. There were on the Bench, Sir Robert Stout, (Chief Justice), Mr Justice Williams, Mr Justice Denniston, Mr Justice Chapman, and Mr Justice Sim. Mr T. W. Stringer, X.0.. with Mr S. G. Raymond; appeared for plaintiffs, and Messrs Geo. Harper, with Messrs*T. A. Murpby. and'F. K. Hunt, for defendants. The claim was for specifio performaflce. It stated that Narbey was of French extraction and a man aged 82 years. He had taken up the land originally in dispute, md it nad grown valuable. There were S7OO acres and these were offered at the rate of £10 10s per acre. Plaintiffs. Moares and Williams, in order to make the offer one of value, paid on 2nd June, and tho offer Was signed by Narbey. Five hundred acres were agreed to be reserved on Armstrong's Peak at the back of AKaroa. The agreement-and offer were to remain open for acceptance for six months, so,'as'to enable the plaintiffs to form an association under the Land "Settlement and .finance 1909, to take over the estate, or failing that to sell the estate privately. The purchase was to be a cash one, with the exception of £15,000, for which he agreed to take Government tures. Purchase-was to be made and completed on the- Ist .March. 1911. Meares and Williams proceeded to the formation of the association under the Act. There was, it appeared, a mis- I take of area common to tbe parties. | On 13th September, 1910. Meares and Williams arranged with a number of purchasers to take the Long Bay estate nnd nn agreement was entered into by these purchasers and the defendant on Ist December, 1910. The Board of Land Purchase Commi-sioners reported adversely on the confirmation of tbe agreement and confirmation was not given. Then, it was stated. Moares and Williams sold tho estate to Pidgeon , privately. Mr Harper stated that on June, the 500 acres to be reserved were to be selected by a method of i Arbitration. Subsequently, while the j association was in process of the, formation, Narbey. it was alleged, was induced to alter that by specific sections' in other places. Plaint-ffs relied on the undated document (embody : ng abovo), signed by Narbey to show that he al- j tered tho mode of selection contained I in the agreement on 2nd June. Mr Stringer: Your claim admits' thit si!H.t.*ntv>n. Pontiff soup-ht inter alia, specific performance of the agreement ente.ed into by defendant for the sale of the estate. For the defenoe it was denied that there was any agreement on the part of defendant, who admits that he has refused and still refuses to recognise any agreement or any sale of the Long Bay estate to plaintiffs; also that the letter of 2nd June was not an offer from the defendant to sell the property, and in further defence, that if that letter was an offer, then it was accepted by plaintiffs, or the plaintiff William Pidgeon. within six months from 2nd June. 1910. It was a'so contended that no selection of the 500 acres to be reserved had ever been made, and that therefore the alleged contract is unenforoible because of its uncertainty. Argument was not finished when the Court rose for the day.