CLAIM FOR RENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17614, 19 October 1917, Page 3

CLAIM FOR RENT.

AN UNUSUAL CASE. At the Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Mr T. A. E. • -Bailey;■ S.M., Thomas Eve (Mr Thomas) claimed £7 163 from William Cashmere (Mr -White) for rent of a;house at Itcdcliffs. ; Mr Thomas caid tho defence was that the rent had been paid regularly !to some man who came round and collected the money,, signing for "P. and C 0.," for tho agents. After pomo.time the same man came round and asked for the lean of' the book for the purpose of making up tho books. The book had not been returned, and the man was not identifiable. He had no authority from Ferriman and Go. to collect, and they did not know him. Evidence . regarding tho letting was <nven by J. Simpson, storekeeper, of Redcliffs, who said that ho had collected tho rent'for some time, until ho was notified by the police that he required a license to" collect rent. He then sent word to Ferriman. and Co. and ceased to ' collect. The house was occupied by Mr and Mrs Cashmere, and Mrs Cashmere had told him that they were paying another collector. • ' Tho Magistrate said that there was no law against tho witness collecting .rent without a license. The witness, asked by tho Magistrate if he could clear'up the mystery of the unknown collector, replied in tho negative, stating that ho had told the circumstances to Mrs Cashmere quite privatelv, and had informed nobody else. To"Mr White :Ho had advised; Mrs Cashmere to send tho rent to Ferriman or wait until she heard from tho firm. Frederick William Waft, partner in the firm of Ferriman and Co., agents for llr&, said that ho. had authorise*! nobody except Simpson to collect the rent. Accounts had been eent to Cashraero in May, July, August, and September, but it was not until tho letters were registered that any answer cam?. Then' Mrs Cashmere wrote in September, saying that the agent had called twice and had been paid. If the earlier accounts had been answered, the firm would have had a- chance to make inquiries. Th e rent was 6s a week. The firm had had nobody in its employ who had recently left. Ho could no* help in identifying any. rnnij. ■'• Elisabeth Cashmere,, wife of the defendant, said that when Simpson told her ho had to gir e tip collecting he advised her to po?t the rent or wait nnwl Ferriman and Co. sent a collector or Je* her know. ' A collector called after she received tho account from,Ferriman on May S, and she paid him £2 10s. In July he called again, and she pawl .to 16s, at the same time permuting him to take the rent book away, to compare with his own books. She, had not replied to the first demand because she had paid up. . ■ Tho Magistrate said that there were discrepancies as to dates and amounts between the witness's evidence, and. the letter' she had sent to l'.ernman, and judgment was given for the plaintiff for the 1 amount claimed. .■ 7 ..