EXPENSIVE ARBITRATION

Evening Star, Issue 15139, 22 March 1913, Page 7

EXPENSIVE ARBITRATION

. When the bill of costs of incmirv infr, tw 6 te the TSy wis i* gate amount This sinks into in S i*nifu?a°n C 0 an presence of particulars of ] cga | 3 °nd otho? m connection with the arbitrS , upon the transfer of the business of (he £ al^i Te i ephon f Cora r»°y *<> the British Pcfenrnter-Geoeral. The telephone com .pany daamed a* the price of the transfer a ! tnfle. under £21,000,000. They have been j awarded £12,500 000. Seventy-two da „ were occupied jn dealing with the case, the costs OMrcacWf-toO,OOO. Of this, counsel have I I! 71 '? 0 ?. 1 ? ! J*»- tlle l"dcr of the com. Alfred Cnpps, receiving a refresher ffof £IOO a day m'supplement of £1,500 marked f upon hai bnef. Shorthand writers and *• pnntem have drawn £3,000. " Early in the i progress of the inquiry, making the then I" startling announcement that it would be '- carried over Christmas," writes Sir Henry ; Lucy_ to. the 'Sydney Morning Herald,' "I mentioned a curious statement made to me ■by one of the arbiters. It was to the effect ■ that a complete inventory of the telephono | company's trade possessions, running to hundreds of volumes, had been made. The bill of oosta shows that this item alone cost a quarter of a million! Ever since the case opened the Stock Exchange has been fluttered /hy a widely-spread system of gambling on 'the result. That ft disappointed expectation i» indicated by the fact that publication of > the award was followed by a drop in price : from 159 to 108. I hear of one city firm and its clients who were straightway poorer i by £100,000."