DEFINING A CROP.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9227, 28 June 1912, Page 5

DEFINING A CROP.

—, —«>. . *. I (Continued from page 3.) ' ,Alr Justice Copper this morning continued the heating ot the case m which Ellis Bros., of .Bulls, sued Hodder and Tollcy foi £617, tho value of a consignment ot grass seed from plaintiffs to defendants Mr Loughnan appeared for plaintiffs', and Mi limes and Mr Myers foi defendants. Mr Loughnan icplied to Mi Mjers' argument of the previous day in which the latter submitted that undei the Sale of Goods Act .he defendants were entitled to reject the consignment as not being the product of seycilty.acres,';the exact quantity which they had cohtractet!' to purchase.' He contended that plaintifF cpiild; ticit-/cohtract;,to deltver. precisely the ; product of seventyjaeres." There ■were:generally.i-patclies-that '.were .missed,: and if the Sale; ot.:,G,obds 'Act; was '.'to': be 'in-': .tojpretedVas by counsel for.'thfe' ..clofenco-: it-';\v6ui"d ■.bo'-iicc'pssary.'to' follow.' the' !;mowihg,-' : m^cfiin^ ; and Tollcy knew ] that they. wer'e' : buying on .Bllis.Bros.Vbstiiiittto.flf.-tho quantity. iThe by common sense. l ;;. .';"'.' ; '■-.'■' "■■■■<■'■','. ■•{Mr. '''Myers ..said'-that";he' did- riot ; :know whether ..this was; ir sale'of goods or not,, r His; Honor ruled .that the case was one of asalo of- g00d5...; •■:"' ,;0 « ; ',". :';.'■! VMr. -Myers submitted "that rib Court could read; the contract "as counsel for plaintiffs had. asked for this 1 to.be read.-It was not correct to.say that where..there ivasa survey showing .seventy .acres jit was necessary for the suryoyorto follow the machine as the :seed'was.cut.: All that was contracted for iyas the-proceeds,of seventy acres—exactly, seventy, acres.-:.:. j'a.:-'■■.'V. ;v'- :.'•'" '■'' ; ■v His; Honor interposed that in surveying' thorp was still a certain.amount of givc'iind takej'. ■-:.'. ■;,./ '>'.':,'■■ ,;■'," 'V •:)•■ Mr Myers contended that, the yield not being' that of seventy acres, the defendants, were'hot bound to. accept, it. ,Suppose : the words "seventy acres 1 ' had.not been thereat all, but. merely "your crop." the words seventy acres wore a limitation. : ; ; . HisHonorsaiU that no doubt a rule existed in regard to ordinary mercantile contracts, but it might be that a different rule should be applied in this case. The question' was one of great importance, e'speci: ally-in a;district like this. It was extraordinary that no. authority had been fdund l)y counsel as to ''a-contract of this sort having been'considered by the Court. He should not decide such an important matter off-hand," but would reserve his judgment on the non-suit point. : The Judge gave permission to counsel on both sides, if they found any authority on the point, to forward it to him. Mr Myers then briefly 'opened tho; defence, and called evidence. , EXPERT EVIDENCE. J Maurice Cohen, grain and produce merchant;,, examined by Mr Innes, stated that he had had twenty-seven years' experience of grass seed.' In 'April he saw a sample of seed at Hodder anil Tolley's, Feilding. The question put to him was, "Is it first-class 1912 dogstail?" Ho had to have a standard of the very best dogstail produced this year, for purposes of comparison. To. his certain knowledge ho could,not say that! the sample of Ellis's,seed.'was first class. Seed to he graded first class would have to be the best of its kind produced in commercial quantities in a given season.,,lt must possess colour and '■ liistre, and must be fitted for all purposes for, which suell seed was used. It must be reasonably free from impurities. These conditions represented the standard,for the season..-' The sample he saw'fell short of being a first class sample. It appeared to have boon subjected jo con' siderablo weather, which had destroyed the lustre. The seed had a frowsy, old appearance. It might be as. good as ,ariy, other for ordinary, purposes*,:-but one. of.'better.colour wbiikr, always,bo accepted .for preference'; He would' riot, say that a small quantity of ; sweet, vernal. would- impair,', the seed if the colour was:' right. , Vornal was not a desirable grass,-.but a small, quantity, would- not' inatter.' : ,Tliero.'was-.a'small quantity,in tho Foildirig sample,' but he'had not been looking foi- it.'- ,'.'.■■'■. •■;■'■• . ■' By,Mr Loughnan:'' He would have no hesitation in passing the sample as f.a.q: (fair. .average quality).•■',. ! Witness producfld what he stated.was,a standard sarripl.e'of first-class 1912 seed, and said that, anything -that fell short of, it would'not be first class, seed. He could best describe .tho standard colour, by suggesting an old gold'colour. Ho had not had to consider-, tl}ri question'. of; weight for some years past.'>:t;"r.:!.:; <-. "i. '• : SWEET -VERNAL SEED. . - Hari'v. Tolley, Veilding: inanagor of the defendant firm, stated that his experience connected with crested dogstailseod extended over twenty •years. He had been, cleaning seed for about twelve years, Forward buying of .farmers' seed had, only been general during the last few years. It wasnot a general rule with his firm to buy large quantities in advance, but they did so last year. It "was usual to. buy about the time of harvest. He made a computation every season of the seed likely to be required bv the .firm. Something near a i reliable estimate wiis made of tho amount ■ 'of seed "likely to be derived per acre. In buying forward they paid attention to the , acreage, as this was an important factor in their business. He bolievod that the con tract came about through Ellis Bros, com- ! in" to his office and offering to sell tho I seed. He had bought dogstail in advance i from other growers as well. A number oi - 1 quantities had been delivered to dafeiiciants. and accepted by them. There .hud been difficulties, chiefly duo to discoloration, but the farmers had met dcfeniants in the matter. He remembered going round-tiio-district about the end of Jaminry • The soed'then had-not been cut, with one small exception. Up to that time he did not know-that-Ellis Bros, had more than 70 acres in dogstail; Witness went out to see what the growing crop looked like. One of the plaintiffs showed him the area under crop. Ellis told him that he had 10U acres shut up; arid witness mentioned to him that the .firm had only bought. 70 acres ■ The area near the house appoared as if it I would not be vci\ hen\y The quantity I delivered was not excessive for a good crop I off tho best land, but the seed aiound ftc I house was veiy deficient He could not w I whether the consignment was the proceeds lot moie than 70 dcies Hie seed was de hsmed on Maich 29th Ho oimui ilu opinion that the seed was discolomed and isked Mi Cohen to inspect it ¥,i ness tormed the opinion that the seed h id been \eiy badlv weatheied He pointed that out bv saymff that theic weie seeds in the consignment "that weie quite blight, wtol* othe.s weie black This lattci condiUm would ha\e been caused by the effect c the weafhei on the outside of the stook l the seed had been badly weathered and had lost its bloom, the \alue was title tj>d SXie between £5 and £lO a ton Ihe standard colom should be a uch goll oi orann-P. A n.erchantablo fii.t class sample should be fU class in coloui, the best of its class m purity, gci munition and weight and capable of being used foi the lug.es purposes of agneultu.o \ good deal o It ,!..s used wdh the idea o cutting fiflin ,t again A veiy consumable quantity en tpred mto expensive lawn nmtuics and ,t was also la.gely used 'y™™/ 1 ' cbnin" The weight could be affected in tlio cleaning to tho extent of five V six nouhds, oithei wav, poi bushel. A gie. t deal of the seed of a samplediown to wit S in Comt had had the little cuned tips ibbed off m the mimical process known ,lolling Tho seed in this condu.on lould 1.0 closer and thus wetgh more per bushel In buying seed ho would put 00l our first and the other cond.t.ons m any Sir he pleased. Puuty was an important factor Plaintiff's seed contained consider ab v more than the average of sweet veina Hedid not take exception to other impuri ?cb in the sample, Vprnal was obje ted to because he could not conscienjously sell, the sample of seed in that condition to a man who was going to sow it to grow a ofdoJailSwootAcrnalonceigot sff ert vernal, but the variety kuown Smnt to g.o« a lust class sample of wd ofitakenasam'nlof.omoneof the Si Put X.hted tli.it h f,inner sowing E down ! 340, ieedi o «=weet verndl to the acio KatTeaU he strongly objected to the I PI ' ' ' (Left Sitting) I •