CLAIM FOR £50

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 54, Issue 32645, 14 November 1945, Page 7

CLAIM FOR £50

REMOVED FURNITURE INCIDENT IN WHITIANGA CASE BEFORE MAGISTRATE ■Decision was reserved 1 by Mr W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Thames Magistrate’s Court on a case in which Evelyn Ella Carter, married', of Whitianga (Mr E. B. Clendon) proceeded against C. H. M. Simpson, farmer, of Whitianga (Mr A. G. T. Bryan) on the grounds- that Simpson entered the house where she was dwelling in September without right or authority, and 1 removed the furniture, stacking it on the verandah.

As a result, a claim of £5O damages for trespass' was made, with an alternative claim of £5O ! for wrongful ejection.

Mrs Carter, in evidence, said she had paid the rent as asked' for, the last payment being in January. In August, defendant approached her and said he had to get the house. Witness said to him if she agreed to give up the house they would go out the next week-end. She would first write to her husband, who was in Auckland 1 at the time.

“My husband had returned and we were walking to the house with a friend at whose place I had been staying,” said Mrs Carter, “when we saw men and furniture on the verandah of the house. When we arrived at the verandiah my husband asked what Mr Simpson was doing. He said: ‘l’m just saving you a job. I thought you were leaving the bach.’ “My personal goods were all on the verandah, and I felt a sense of injustice over what 'had happened,” said Mrs Carter.

Cross-examining witness, Mr Bryan asked if the Carters' and Simpson had been good neighbours. Mrs Carter: Yes.

“Mr Simpson says that he approached you about vacating the place, and you said: ‘I suppose so, if you want it. I will be out by the weekend,’ ” said Mr Bryan to witness. The Carters had answered an advertisement put in an Auckland paper in 1941 by defendant, for a cottage to let at a rent of £2 a month, for a handyman, said Mr Bryan. They had always been on the best of terms, and in anticipation of the arrangements made between the defendant and Mrs Carter, Mr Simpson was helping them.

Mrs Carter: It astonished me that he would enter the house and go through my private possessions and put them on the verandah.

'“The furniture had been put on the verandah and on arriving on the scene with my wife and a friend; I asked defendant what he was doing,” said Mr A. Carter, in giving 1 evidence. He said he was saving us a job. Attitude Of Defendant Mr Bryan, for the defence, said there was much ado about nothing. The .defendant had the best of intentions, and by mutual arrangement the tenancy had been brought to an end. “We were always very friendly and on the best of terms,” said Simpson, when giving evidence. “I asked Mrs Carter if I could have the cottage back and she smiled and said: T suppose so, if you want it.’ The Carters had previously obtained a bach at Whitianga, and some of their possessions were there. I went over to see if they had made a start at packing, but the Carters were not there. I could see through the window that they had. When we shifted! their furniture my daughter, Joan, 16 years of age, and myself were most careful. We were expecting new tenants in. the cottage and we . covered the furniture on the verandah. The last thing I would do would be to look through private papers. When the Carters arrived at the cottage I told them that I understood that Mrs Carter had l said that I could have the house. .If there had been no arrangement I would not have d-one it,” said Mr Simpson.