A CLAIM FOR COMMISSION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 14285, 1 February 1907, Page 5

A CLAIM FOR COMMISSION.

A LARGE CONTRACT. Yesterday, at the Magistrate’s Court, before Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., Arthur Brittan, engineers’ agent, claimed £3l 14s 8d from the Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Company', alleged to be due as balance of commission. Mr Beswick appeared for defendant company. Counsel for the plaintiff said that the action was really a remnant of a Supreme Court action. Brittan had been appointed the sole agent for the company in New Zealand, in 1903, and in October of that year obtained for it a contract for the erection of the Staircase Gully and

Broken River viaducts, for £26,269 7s lid. It was agreed between the parties that defendant was to receive 2i- per cent commission. Of the commission £3OO was paid on account, and the defendant sued the company in February, 1906, for £356 14s Bd, the balance of the commission due. The company settled the matter by paying £325 in cash, and agreeing to pay the remaining £3l 14s 8d at the conclusion of the contract. The work was now finished, and trains were running over both viaducts. The plaintiff therefore claimed the balance sued for. Arthur Brittan’s evidence, taken in Auckland, was read. It covered the same ground as Mr Beswick’s remarks. Mr Don gall, for the defence, said that the remarks made by the counsel for the plaintiff were mainly correct, but the contract was not concluded. The work was finished, but the Cleveland Bridge Company and the New Zealand Government had failed to agree as to the price. One of the conditions of the contract was that if the weight of material supplied varied from that set out in the specifications the contracting parties could reduce or increase the price. The matter of the price had not, been settled, and the contract was not yet terminated. In addition, the commission was to be adjusted upon the net price of .the contract, exclusive of freight; By that arrangement the plaintiff was now really in the company’s debt for something like £6O. A. Thomson Johnston, engineer for the company, said, that the company had demanded payment from the Government, but he could not say whether it was above or below the price stated in the contract. The matter was not settled yet. His Worship reserved his decision.