A CONFECTIONERY SHOP

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 108, 3 November 1923, Page 13

A CONFECTIONERY SHOP

DISPUTE REGARDING ITS SALE.

Transactions leading up to the puroiasa of a confectionery shop in Willis street were under review, at■: the Supreme, Court yesterday, when . Mr. Justice Salmond heard the case of 'Albert Henry Hunt against Gladys Alma Lempriere and Cyril Bertram Lempriere. The plaintiff claimed the sum of £755 14a lid as damages for alleged false representation, and the defendants, in denying the allegations made-against them, couhterclaimed for £125, alleged to-bo still due as part of the purchase money. Mr- H. F. yon Haast appeared for tho plaintiff, and Mr. A. W. Blair for the defendants.

On 16th December, according to the statement of claim, the plaintiff agreed to purchase from the defendant a confectionery business carried on by the defendant at 90, Willis street, as a going concern, including all the stockfurniture, and. goodwill, for the sum of £1250. Possession of . the business was given by the defendant to the plaintiff on 18th. December, and the plaintiff paid. the sum of £1000, and gave a promissory note for £125 payable on 19th March, 1923. This promissory note had since been satisfied. In order to induce the plaintiff ,to enter into the agreement, it was alleged that the defendant stated that the' weekly takings averaged £50, a'statement that was later found to bo incorrect, the takings not nearly, amounting to that figure. It was alleged that tho business was worth much less than £i 250 and on Ist October, 1923, the plaintiff sdld the business.for £875. In all, plaintiff claimed damages amounting to £755 14s lid.

The defence was a general- denial of the allegations of the plaintiffs. It was denied that, defendants had represented the takings to be £S0 per week, and it was alleged that Hunt himself had made that-estimate as a result of 1113 perusal of the books of the business. Defendants counterclaimed for the sum of ±,125, which, it was alleged,' was still duo as part of the purchase money. The case had not been concluded up to the time the Court adjourned.