DOUBLE RECEIPTS

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 83, 8 April 1920, Page 6

DOUBLE RECEIPTS

ONE PAYMENT GONE ASTRAY,

A dispute over the settlement of an account presented by the New Zealand Express Company 'to William Mansfield, monumental mason, in respect of charges made on two cases of 'marble unshipped from the steamer Moeraki, was referred to Mr. P. L. Hollings, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court to-day. Mansfield's account of the transaction was that he had paid £3 of the account on»one occasion and the remainder, £2 5s 6d, on 2nd December. On sth January, the company again demanded payment, which he' first refused, but later made under protest on threat of legal proceedings, as he was unable to find- the previous receipt. He had, however, since found the receipt, but on production of it.at the company's offices had be,en refused a Tefund of the amount which, he alleged, had been twice paid.. ' For the defence, Mr. J. C. Morrison held that the account had been paid once only, although "Mansfield had obtained possession of two receipts. This had been, brought about by the fact that the carrier who had delivered the' 1 marble on Ist December had been supplied with a. stamped and signed receipt in anticipation of payment being made on delivery. This receipt and the usual papers, he stated, were handed- over by the carter without payment having been made. Unfortunately the carter had since left the company and could not now be traced. The plaintiff's statement, howeverj was to the effect- that -he had paid the accoiint and the re-rendered account at the office. The Magistrate said that he could not understand a carrier leaving' a, receipt^ without first obtaining the money. To' this the chief clerk replied that such a situation would probably arise out of aa

honest mistake. ■. . , "I cannot understand a business firm issuing receipts without first receiving payment," said the Magistrate, "and if they do so they must be prepared to face the difficulty of this sort of. case. The plaintiff has stated that he had paid the account, 'and his evidence is supported by the two receipts, and if I discredit that statement 1 must believe that the plaintiff has deliberately committed perjury for a paltry £2 5s 6d. I am not prepared to discredit the statement...in that way." ■ ; . .

Judgment was "given, ior ths plaintiff, for whom Mr. E. P. Bunny appeared, for the amount claimed, and coste.