MAGISTRATE UPHELD

Evening Star, Issue 22524, 17 December 1936, Page 14

MAGISTRATE UPHELD

SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT His Honour Mr Justice Kennedy this morning gave judgment in the case in which Henry James Quartermain asked for a motion setting aside the judgment of Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., in'a claim by the plaintiff for damages in connection with a mortgage. At the hearing the plaintiff conducted his own case, and Mr C. J. Rawlinson appeared for the defendant, James Crombie Parcell. The position was that the plaintiff, Quarterman, was the owner of a garage at Cromwell, and that the mortgagees in possession were alleged to have charged too small a rent for the premises. Plaintiff had therefore claimed for damages. A previous similar application to His Honour had been dismissed, and a further appeal to the Court of Appeal against Mr Justice Kennedy’s decision had also been dismissed. His Honour said the applicant had agreed to treat the matter as an appeal from the magistrate’s judgment. “I need say no more than was said in a judgment delivered by me on August 28, 1936, where I dealt fully with the matter,” continued Honour. “ Nevertheless, I have considered whether by reforming the. matter in any permissible way the applicant would be entitled to relief. Certain statements made by him were explicitly explained at the hearing before me. There is only one that should be specially referred to, and that is his allegation that the learned magistrate hear(l part of the case' in his absence. The learned magistrate in his judgment explained that he had inspected the.. mises and no more, and by this inspection the plaintiff claims that the action was part heard in his absence. I have, as suggested by the applicant, referred to the notes of evidence, and there ■is ample material to support the statements to which I was referred in the learned magistrate’s judgment, and nothing to show, if it would really affect the position, that the learned magistrate substituted a view for evidence. Had there appeared any ground for reforming the application I must have given James Crombie Parcell an opportunity by adjournment of meeting the altered application. The motion is dismissed. The applicant will pay James Crombie Parcell for costs, £8 Bs, and disbursements.”