SUPREME COURT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1251, 21 May 1918, Page 7

SUPREME COURT.

(VLLEGFI) WRONGFUL SEIZIHK

OF STOCK

The hearing was continued at tho Supreme Court yesterday afternoon ol the. ease in which John .Mann (Mr C. A. Loughnan) sued Jesse Tanner (Mr 11. It. Coopor) Cor damages for alleged wrongful seizure of two racehorses — Mystified and Goldbearing--and other slock at Woodvillo. In reply to questions by Mr Cooper, plaintiff said he had approached other people to endeavour to got the money to pay off Tanner. He did not remember receiving from the Manawatu ltacing Club any letters or telegrams relerriug to moneys duo to the Club that had out been paid, lie was not aware ol being on the unpaid forfeit list ol the raring clubs at Masterton or Dannevirke and other places. Plaintiff admitted thai judgments were obtained against him in the Woodvillo Court in January, 1917, lor certain amounts, including some lor rent, lie considered that if Tanner had served him with notice of what he was to do he could have disposed of one horse and kept on with the other. He had put the cattle in the vards at Woodville lor >ale alter Mr Tanner had told his family they could do what they liked with them. ' He was certain the cattle WCVO not offered for sale before Christmas of L 916; they were offered for sale a lew days after January lib. • !"'• Plaintiff's son, under witness's instructions, was training the horses for eight or nine months. Marv Anne Maim, plaintiff s wile, :>ave evidence ol Tanner coining to take the horses She had asked him not to take them until her husband came home. Later on Tanner came and told her husband he was going to take the cows, and when her daughter said, "Don't you think you have got enough?" he said, "Shut your mouth; you have no right to speak. Alfred Shearsbv, horse trainer said that he had seen Goldbearing and -Mystified at Awapuni in 1917. At that tune he considered Mystified was worth £'2oo and Goldbearing was worth £l7o. James Ford llathaway, horse trainer, stated that in February <>i last yeir he made a valuation of Mystified and Gold-

bearing. The value he placed on the former was £225 and on the latter U175. Alexander Mann, son of tho plaintin', gave evidence ol the horses being called for by defendant. Defendant said they were depreciating in value, and witness said. "No wonder when there are doping bottles in tho boxes." Witness suggested that some person had been doping the horses. Defendant took the horses away, and said the cows belonged to him, but that he did not want them, and witness could do what he liked with them. To Mr Cooper: On the night on which Tanner had come for the horses witness threatened to break the mare's legs rather than let her be taken away, but he meant that ho would have struck with an axe any man who attempted to take the mare away. Clementina -Mann, daughter of tho plaintiff, deposed that she was present when the horses were taken on January 4th. Mr Tanner came to her father's house while the latter was away, and took the horses. lie spoke to her brother first, and then to her mother. Her mother said it was very mean ol him to take them while her husband was away. He replied that he had come lor the horses, and they could not stop him. Her mother said he was not going to take them. Alter the talk was finished, Mr Tanner wont into tho paddock and took the horses. Witness was also present when the cows were taken, and when she protested Tanner -aid. "Von shut your mouth; you are not supposed to speak. Endoll Wanklin, secretary of the Foxton Racing Club, ueposed that both Mystified and Goldbearrtig ran at the •luh'.s meeting in January, IUI7, in tho name of S. V. Rodney. To Mr Cooper: Mann had also nominated the horses, and he believed that Maun owed the (dub at that time about I'l-1. An amount owing by Maun was written off before January. 1917. Frederick Thomas Danvers, veterinary surgeon, deposed that in the year 1916 lie valued tho horses for insurance purposes at £IOO each. The insurance companies would only insure them for two-thirds of their value, .so that together they would be worth then £3OO. The Court thou adjourned until this morning.