SCURR V. SIR ROBERT 'STOUT

Evening Star, Issue 16090, 15 April 1916, Page 9

SCURR V. SIR ROBERT 'STOUT

TO THE EDITOR

. Sir,—Your report of the delivered judgment in this action, together with the remarks of the Court, which are irrelevant to the issue and, in our opinion, unwarranted by the facts of tho case, must naturally lead the public to the opinion that we assumed the role of highwaymen in entering into this transaction at all. In justice to ourselves we must request you to publish the whole of the correspondence comprising tho letters and telegrams which passed between ourselves and the defendant in connection with this matter, the court copies of which we herewith place at your disposal for that purpose. Only by' the adoption of that course will the public be in a position to arrive at a fair conclusion as to our position in the matter.—Wc are, etc., ScTKR AXD Co. Dunedin, April 13.

"Dunedin, October 19. 1914. "Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, Wellington. " Dear sir,—We are taking the liberty of communicating with your Honor on " the matter of the property tenanted by Messieurs Mondy and Stephens, barristers and solicitors, in this City. "Wo understand the property in question belongs to your Honor—that is, as far as the building is concerned —and we understand the ground is corporation leasehold . "We desire to know whether your Honor wouU be prepared to sell these buildings, and, if so, if yo\u' Honor would favor us with full particulars as to price, rental, etc., and if your Honor would authorise us to place the matter before a client we think it might suit. In the event of your Honor favoring us with the necessary authority, auy sale made would be subject to the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce rates of commission. We shall esteem it a favor if your Honor will advise us at the earliest opportunity. On receiving authority from your Honor, we would place the matter before our client, and, if the situation, etc., seemed suitable, we would then arrange with your Honor that an inside inspection could be made of the premises.— Thanking you in anticipation—We are, "Scuim asd Co."

[Telegram.] "October 19, 1914. " Sir Stout, Wellington. " Understand you would sell building occupied Mondy and Stephens. Please advise lowest price subject to commission. " SCUBK AND Co., "Auctioneers."

[Telegram.]

' Government Buildings, Wellington.

October 20, 1914. " Scurr and Co., auctioneers, Dunedin. " Willing to negotiate. Writing. "Robert Stout."

" Wellington, October 20, 1914. " Messrs Scurr and Co., auctioneers,

Dunedin

"Dear Sirs, —I am in receipt of your telegram of yesterday asking me lowest price of my Princes street property, subject to commission.

" My position in regard to the property is as follows: —The present net income from the property is £220 per year, that is, after paying ground rent, rates, insurances, etc. This income is not subject to land or income tax. If I were to realise I would have to pay a mortgage tax if I invested on mortgage. " Supposing I invested £4.500, the mortgage tax would be a shade over £l4. Then one investing on mortgage must contemplate some periods of non-investment and some risk of loss. Suppose £l6 per annum was put down for that. Tl>en thereis the cost of collecting interest, say at 2J.- per cent. You will therefore see "that it thesr! various sums wore capitalised at 5 per cent, the amount would exceed £5,000. Then you claim a commission, the amount nf which vou do not state.

"I have placed before you my position. "The place is let to Messrs Mondy and Stephens, but they stated they would* meet me if I sold. That would' have to be srranged so that they would have a reasonable notice.

" It is for your constituent to say what he is prepared to offer. Ho cannot"expect me to accept an offer that would reduce my income. I may add that I would have no objection to a reasonable sum remaining on mortgage. —Yours truly, " (Signed) Robert Stout."

" Dunedin, October 22, 1914. "Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, Wellington.

" Dear sir,—We have to ficknowleclge the receipt of your Honor's communication in reply to our wire inquiring whether your Honor would consider selling the buildings in this City at present occupied by Messieurs Mondy and Stephens, solicitors, and also authorising us to place this proposition before our client, which we did immediately on receipt of your Honor's letter.

" We have offered these premises to the local Deputy Public Trustee, who is advertising for more suitable premises either to lease- or to purchase, and we are of the opinion that your buildings should suit their requirements adequately, both from the point of view- of convenient position and adequate accommodation, for some considerable time to come. Re the price. It is really necessary before we can properly put aiiy proposition before a client that the vendor should place a definite price Upon his property. The price indicated by your Honor is "about £5,000, and we have had to indicate to the local Deputy Public Trustee that the price required would bo in this region, and we have requested him to submit an offer if the premises are otherwise suitable. "Our commission woujd be according to the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce rates —which are as follows:

On the first £250 ... 5 per cent. On excess over 250 up to £1,500 2£ per cent. On excess over £1,500 1£ per cent. The commission on £5,000 would amount to £96 ss. " We shall advise your Honor as to the result of the decision of the Public Trust Office. Your Honor will see by the attached advertisement that all propositions submitted have to be in by the 31st of the present month. "Being advised of tho commission rates which aro chargeable, we would be glad if your Honor would fix a definite price which we can quote our clients.—Yours faithfully,

" Sotbb AXI) Co."

"Wellington, October 26, 1914, "Messrs Scurr and Co., auctioneers.

Princes street, Dnnedin. "Dear sirs,—l am in receipt of your letter of the 22nd inst. In your telegram of the 19th inst. you asked me to ' advise lowest price, subject to commission,' of my Princes street property. I. assumed you had a buyer who had instructed you to purchase. I wrote you explaining my position, but not authorising you to make any oll'er, and I said ' it is for your constituent to say what he is prepared to offer.' In your letter of the 19th, received after my letter had been sent, you wrote of having ' a client.' In your letter of the 22nd it appears you have no client. The Public Trustee*" has not apparently instructed you to act for him. This entirely alters tho position I understood you were in. I'do not feel warranted in authorising you to make an offer, and, considering the. circumstances, I certainly would not agreo to pay you the commission you ask. The Public Trustee is in Wellington, and I can, if required, negotiate with him here. "If a sale eventuates through my negotiations with the Public Trustee I shall allow you some sum for your trouble in sending me "telegrams and letters, though lam not bound to do so. The amount will be what I consider fair and reasonable.—Tours truly,

"Robert Stout.'

" Dunedin. October 28, 1914, "Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice,

Wellington. " Dear Sir, —We have ceipt of your, favor of the 26th inefc., $&• lativc to'tho matter of the possible purChase by the Public Trust Office o£ tho

premises owned by your Honor and tenanted by Messieurs Mondy and Stephens, solicitors, of this City. "At the outset we are compelled to state that we are much surprised by the contents of this letter, and equally surprised at your Honor's deductions, and the only conclusion we can arrive -at is that your Honor was under the impression that when w*o .communicated with your Honor in' the first instance, inquiring whether your Honor would sell the property referred to, that we had received specific instructions from the Public Trust Office to make, on their behalf, a direct inquiry with respect to this particular property. We desire to state at once that sucli is not the case, and with the utmost respect we trust your Honor will pardon us when we state that we are at a loss to understand how your Honor could arrive at any such interpretation. Not only i 6 it absolutely contrary to custom for an agent to act for a possible buyer (a fact which is known to every business man), bub in every case the commission payable is ahvdJjys paid by the owner of the property sold, such commission being added to the price of the property as quoted to the possible buyer. When we first communicated with your Honor by telegram, inquiring whether your Honor would consider selling this particular property, wo were particularly careful to ask your Honor to quote the lowest price ' subject to commission,' thereby indicating at once that if a. sale eventuated commission would require to be paid to us as selling agents in the usual manner. We concluded that your Honor would be' well acquainted with the, fact that agents' rates are governed by Chamber of Commerce rules. We were particular to include the words ' subject to commission,' in order to obyiate the slightest possible doubt as to our position in the matter. It came to our knowledge that the Public Trust Office was open either to lease or purchase suitable premises, a fact which is equally known to other agents, who have submitted propositions in the same manner, and we are perfectly safe in assuming that their right to receive commission from the owner of any of the properties submitted has never been questioned for ono minute; in fact, in all our experience we have never had such a suggestion (as made by your Hpnor) either put to us or ever entertained for one moment. When we knew the Public Trust were open to consider propositions we put several to them, the instructions being that all propositions were to be submitted to the local office bv the 31st of the present month, and the local office would then forward any recommendations to Wellington. We placed several propositions before the local Deputy Trustee (with whom our business relations have always been pleasant) which did not suit. It_ then occurred to us that your property might be suitable, and we accordingly wired your Honor (as time was limited") asking for the lowest price, subject to commission. In the same way we recently communicated with Mr Justice Hosking relative to his Dunedin residence, stating that we had a client in mind for it, and requesting his price. His Honor immediately replied, and, far from questioning our right to commission if business resulted, stated that he would be glad to pay us the full commission according to the usual custom. We notified His Honor as to the identity of the client we had in view, and Mr Justice Hosking has certainly never suggested that he intended to take advantage'of this information and deal direct with the probable buyer. We supplied your Honor with the identity of our possible client, firstly as evidence of our bona fides, and in order to satisfy your Honor that this party _ would at any rate be sufficiently financial to purchase the property if suitable; and, secondly, we supplied your Honor with this information in order "that botli your Honor and ourselves might be protected_ from am- possible complications which might result if the same proposition were offered to the same client by another agent. Wo are more than surprised that your Honor should suggest, for ono minute that your Honor is now open to deal direct with our client through the head office in Wellington. If information could be made use. of in this manner, then agents could not exist at all. We know that your Honor would not under any circumstances be in the most indirect, and far less in a direct, manner a party to any injustice to anyone, and wo trust that having made the position pbin_that your Honor will appreciate our position. With regard to your Honor's suggestion that a payment might be made to us for telegrams, etc., sent, we might state that if this property is sold to the Public Trust we are entitled to the commission in the usual manner, which sum will Tequirc to bo added to the purchase price as quoted to the client referred to. who, as a matter of fact, are indirectly the party who really pay the commission. —We arc, yours faithfully, " Scurr and Co."

"Wellington, October 31, 1914. " Messrs Scurr and Co.. auctioneers, Princes .street. Dunedin.

" Dear sirs,—l am in receipt of your letter of October 28. I have already explained to you the reason why I have not appointed you my agent for' the sale of my property, and it does not appear that any further correspondence is necessary. I think if you reread your telegram and letter and my reply by wire and letter that you must see l I assumed you bad a constituent. I stated my willingness to negotiate, and also in my letter "I said : ' It is for your constituent to say what ho is prepared to offer,' etc.—Yours truly. "Robert Stout."

"Dunedin. November 3, 1914. "Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice.' Wellington. "Dear sir, —We have to acknowledge receipt of your further communication relative to the possible purchase bv the Public Trust Office of the buildings' occupied by Messrs Mondy and Stephens, solicitors, of this City.

"In reply thereto, wo can only slate that in the event of this purchase- being made we shall claim the usual commission to which, as selling agents for your Honor, wo shall be justly entitled.—We are. yours faithfully,

" SCURR AND Co."

[Copy.] "Wellington, April 2-6, 1915. " Messrs Scurr and Co., auctioneers, Dunedin.

"Gentlemen, —Referring to our previous correspondence, and especially to my letter of October 21, 1914, I liavo to state that I have completed the transfer of my property in Princes street to the Public Trustee, and would refer you to the last clause of the letter, where I stated that although 1 was. not bound either legally or morally to allow you any sum for sending me the telegra'm and letter, yet I would do so, the amount to bo what 1 considered fair and reasonable. Since I made thab offer you have threatened to sue me. If you purpose carrying out this threat, I have nothing more to say in tho matter. ]f you arc willing to leave the matter with myself, I shall carry out my promise of allowing you a fair and reasonable sum.

"This letter is written without prejudice.—Yours faithfully,

"RoiiEnx Stout.

"April 30, 1915. "Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, Wellington. "Dear sir,—Re purchase by the Public Trust Office of the premises occupied by Messrs Mondy and Stephens, solicitors, of this City. " We have to acknowledge receipt of your Honor's communication of the 26th inst.._ relative to the above matter, and containing some proposal that, provided we refrained from taking legal proceedings, your Honor will allow us some uumentioned sum 'for telegram and letters sent.' In reply thereto we can only state that as previously indicated by us an agent's rates of commission are prescribed by the variour chambers of commerce, such rates being calculated upon a basis regarded by the chambers of commerce a-s being ' fair and reasonable,' and adopted by the courts , As such. We have already advised your I Bsafl»_ as to the rates provided by tho s>Hn#din Chamber of Commerce, and we think ire are correct in stating that they jkg lower than those fisting elsejffikese^

We are of the opinion that we are entitled to remuneration to the extent proTided by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce rules, or as an alternative that we are not entitled to anything, and it is upon this basis that we intend to act in tins matter. Litigation is not sought for by us, and it will be a matter for regret if we are compelled to seek the aid of the Court in order to establish our rights in this particular transaction*—Yours faithfully,

" SCTJBE AND Co."

" Chief Justice's Chambers, Auckland, May 6, 1915. * 'Messrs Scurr and Co., 13 Princes street, Dunedin. "Gentlemen,—l am in receipt oLvour letter of April 30. ' It is unnecessary to reiterate my position and to continue the correspondence.— Yours truly.

"Robert Stout."

"Dunedin, May 31, 1915. 'Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, Wellington. " Dear sir,—Herewith wo forward our account against you, being commission on sale of your Princes street property to the Public Trustee. "The delay in this matter has been caused by our being unable to find the exact figure at which the sale was effected. We have searched the Deeds Registry Office on many occasions, but as vet nothing appears, and it was only by indirect means we ascertained that £5.000 was the price at which the business was completed. The tone of your correspondence of late can only lead us to conclude that you have no intention of considering our agency in the matter. We. therefore ask for a settlement of the enclosed account on or before Thursday, June 10, upon failure of which we shall issue a summons for recovery.— Your faithfully,

" SctTEE AND Co" "Account for £96 5s enclosed."