HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 16 June 1939, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

LOur Own Correspondent] HOKITIKA, June 15. Telegraph Department officials in Soutn Westland are now surveying a! shorter route for the telephone line 1 south from Weheka, instead of the ex-! istmg route along the old road. It is intended as the completed road ex-, tends, to construct an entirely new| line of better material. The first sec-, tion will be from Weheka for a dis-, tance of about 16 miles.

After having spent two days in Soutn Westland visiting the glaciers, 1 a. party of young farmers from the Wamarapa district, arrived from Wai-’ ho this morn.ng, and spent a short time m the town before leaving at 11 a.m. for Otira in two ’buses. I T.ie m.v. Gael will sail for Jackson Bay and Okuru when the sea moderates. The Gael berthed late on Monday and has a large cargo for the Bay and Okuru, much general equipment and a large quantity of stores for the jtuJic Works Department having accumulated at the wharf sheds during uie Gael’s recent lay-up. I In tae Magistrate's Court, Mr R. Ferner S.M. gave judgment for the pia ntiff with court costs and solici-j tor’s fee in a claim for £27 8s 6d, brought by Sarah Ellen Lawrence > (Mr W. Taylor), against Thomas F.l Looker, as the cost of repairs to a car owned by plaintiff which was in- 1 vohed in a minor collision with a car driven by the defendant on the Hoki-! t.ka-Greymouth main highway in the] v.cin.ty of the Kaihinu intersection. Near Chancellor Dome, up the Fox! Glacier, where a hostel is suggested' alongside the excellent ski-ing site,! theie is a 300 foot waterfall, which! would afford a power supply. If link-] ed, the Fox and Franz Josef Glacier' ice-fields would afford miles of ski-ing | sunace. Mr J. O’Brien, M.P., is likely to arrange a deputation to the Goveinment on the matter, as also on that of extending the railway below Ross to reach timber mills in South Westland. A sanatorium on Chancellor nidge, Fox Glacier, is now suggested. Tnere is an increase of high alpine cl mbers this year in the glacial country. Canterbury ski-ers tried out t.ie icefieffis in the vicinity of the Pranz while on the Fox, the number making the Chancellor Ridge trip has increased substantially. A meeting of twenty-five citizens,] over which Mr A. R. Elcock (Deputy-.' Mayor) presideu, last evening discuss-, ed at the Town Hall, the question of, a local centennial memorial. Mr A.i H. Lawn dealt with the swimming baths, which need urgent attention.' Various works, considered most essen-j tial were referred to the estimated, cost being £6OO. Mr D. J. Evans pro-| duced a plan of memorial gates suggested for Cass Square in honour of the founders of Hokitika. The design was prepared by Mr J. Menzies, 1 free of cost. The work proposed would cost about £2OO. Mr W. H.' Stopforth moved that the swimming bams proposal be accepted, improvements to be carried out as far as the funds available would admit. Mr J. L. Turner, in seconding the motion, said that in his opinion every person should be able to swim, and that everything should be done to encour.age swimming.—The motion was earned unanimously. With regard to the memorial gates at Cass Square, a general discussion as to the location ’of the gates showed a difference of 'opinion. Mr Evans thought the Hah Street entrance, on Stafford Street, was the most suitable. Messrs Heenan and Stopforth said they thought the Weld and Bealey Stree corner entrance would be the most popular. A mot.on,that, if funds were available the gates be procured, was earned, with only two dissentients. It was resolved that the first £450 raised be earmarked for the baths, any sur- ( plus to be set aside for the gates. On' the motion of Mr D. Gillespie, seconded by Mr J. Richards, it was resolved that a recommendation be made to the Borough Council that the gates,

if any, should be located at the corner of’Bealey and Weld Streets. With regard to a Centennial Celeoration Week, the following items and their sponsors were allocated: Friday, February 23: Shops and street illuminal.ons, Business Men’s association; Race Ball, Racing Club; Saturday, races, Racing Club; Sunday, Church services, national concert at night, Misses Duff and Dale and Mr P. Goodfellow m charge; Monday, Races, Racing Club; Tuesday, Sports, Sports Club; Wednesday, Public picnic at Lake Mahinapua, Licensed Victuallers’ Association; Thursday, Tours Hokitika Gorge and Lake Kanieri, Car Services; Friday, March 1, Swimming Sports and carnival, Swimming Club; Saturday, Sports Cass Square, Spurts Club. A clearing sale recently held, disposing of farming implements and chattels on a farm property situated at Koiterangi, had its sequel in the Magistrate's Court at Hokitika yesterday, when Mr Haymond Ferner, S.M., neard evidence for plaintiff and defendant on a claim for £lOO, brougnt by Stan.ey Edward Lawrence and Hva Lawrence (Mr W. Taylor), againstaga.nst Malcolm Houston (Mr James), auctioneer, of Hokitika. The Magistrate, alter hearing the evidence for both parties, adjourned the case sine die, to allow counsel to submit written legal argument. Mr Taylor said the claim was for the balance of the proceeds of a clearing sale held by the defendant on behalf of one or ct-.c-r of the plaintiffs. The sale had been advertised as on account of Mr S. L. Lawrence, but the chattels so*d were Mrs Lawrence's properly, Lawrence merely acting as his wire’s agent in runn.ng the farm and arranging the sale. In 1934, Lawrence, then a salesman on commission for a firm of land agents in Christchurch, was sent over witn a prospective buyer to dispose of a farm at Koiterangi. The client refused the property, and Lawrence himselx took over the farm with the mortgages to the Commissioner of Crown Lands of £llOO, A mortgage of £5OO was given Lawrence by Mr Thomas Bennett, a sheepfarmer, of Ruapana, Ashburton, who was in this case the real defendant, and I Houston only a nominal one. Part of Bennett’s sceur.ty was on the: stock on the property. Law’rence did | not do too well. The Commissioner! of Crown Lands put the property up*. for aucton. With Bennett’s encour-] agement, Lawrence bought into the farm a deposit of £lOO being given him by Bennett. When Lawrence first took over the stock was stated to | be 25 cows, but he found 21 cows, which all died in a year or so. Law-i fence replaced this stock with other, stock, purchased by his wife from 1 moneys received by her from the estate of her mother. In 1937, Lawrence filed an application for relief under the Mortgagors’ Relief Act, and the mortgage adjustment commission gave a decision that the chattel security and all under the bill of sale held by Bennett, be released as from April 1, 1937. Bennett appealed, and the Court of Review rescinded the commission’s decision, but released Lawrence from personal liability under the mortgage. From 1937, Lawrence considered he was free of liability] other than the security on the original s.ock. On March 21 of this year, a clearing sale was effected, -.e sum of £lB4 5s 9d being the total realisation, which was reduced to £174 6s 6d by way of charges, etc. Of this sum, £74 6s 6a had been paid to Lawrence, and the dispute was in relation to the rema.n.ng £ioo. Counsel submitted that, under Section 31 of the Auctioneers Act, the auctioneer must pay to the person on whose account the sale I was made the net proceeds after the sale was discharged. In the event of ownership of the chattels being the issue, whicn he considered it was not, J counsel proceeded with evidence for! the plantiffs, Lawrence admitted' he had claimed ownership of the farm 1 stock when he made application for relief under thqj Mortgagors’ Relief Act. The commission had placed a valuation of £3O 10s on stock covered by Bennett’s security. He had purchased, in all, 29 head of stock while

on the farm through Bennett and with money advanced by Bennett. Most of this stock died before the clearing sale, and the stock sold there belonged to his wife, which she had bought mostly as day-old calves and rea-red. He did not own any or me stock sold. Mr M. B. James, for the defence, said Houston was a nominal defendant, the real defendant being Bennett, holder of the bill of sale. Counsel said he had been taken unawares by opposing counsel raising the point mentioned under the Auctioneers’ Act. He was acting on instructions from Bennett’s Christchurch solicitors, and was under the impression that the case was to have proceeded between Lawrence and the holder of the bill of sale, and that it was simply to finalise the claim. He requested an opportunity to submit wr.tten legal argument on the point of the auctioneer’s liability to pay. The defendant was claiming the proceeds of the sale on the grounds that the stock and plant sold on the day of the clearing sale was the stock and plant covered by the bill of sale held by him. Counsel led evidence from tire defendant (Bennett), Houston and R. Mattingly (who farmed the property before Lawrence), and the S.M. adjourned the case for written legal argument.