A LOST SUITCASE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 16 January 1939, Page 4

A LOST SUITCASE

RESULT OF LITIGATION MAGISTRATE’S RESERVED JUDGMENT In a reserved judgment delivered this morning the Magistrate, Mr T. E. Maunsell, gave judgment for defendant in the case Allen Newth v. B. F. Spiers Transport Co. Ltd., in a claim for £2l. Plaintiff was given judgment for the amount (£3) paid into court by the defendant. Defendant was awarded costs as to the amount of the claim over and above the amount paid into court on account of the claim. Costs amounted to £lO. The Magistrate commented: "This is a claim for the value of a suitcase and 1 contents belonging to the plaintiff and lost from defendant’s service car when being conveyed to Murchison. The only question is as to the value and nature of the contents. In a claim of this kind a defendant is liable to be entirely at the mercy of plaintiff’s honesty. The plaintiff’s allegations should therefore be scrupulously examined by the court in testing their credibility. I am at a disadvantage in that the plaintiff and his sister did not give evidence before me. According to their evidence the suitcase contained a large number of articles of considerable value. The plaintiff’s evidence is absolutely inconsistent with statements made by him immediately after the articles were lost, statements which I hold to be proved to have been made by him, namely that it contained his working clothes and a pair of snips. He was asked what the suitcase contained. Surely he would not have omitted to mention such an item as a suit of clothes worth £6 15s, nor ten shirts nor underclothing. A suitcase capable of containing all the articles mentioned would require to be of a considerable size, but the evidence is that it was comparatively small. As to his sister’s evidence she performed a remarkable feat of memory. Although the packing was done one year and nine months before she gave her evidence she was able to remember not only all the articles but also the precise order of packing and also the value and approximate value of the articles. “I must discredit the evidence in support of the claim and give judgment only for the amount paid into court.”