CHEMICAL MANURE CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13874, 7 October 1908, Page 8

CHEMICAL MANURE CASE.

CLAIM FOR DAMAGES. Thb hearing of the case in -which Adolf Lorie' claimed from Bond and Bell, ol Auckland, £70, as damages, ; and £7 for failure to deliver, in connection with a transaction in chemical manure (basic slag), ■was continued before Mr. C. C. Kettle, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court. yesterday. Mi'. R. McVeagh appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. T. Cotter for the defendants. • Arthur Charles Lipsoombe, ~ manager; for Yates and Co., seed merchants, said that his firm bought a large quantity of .basic slag from the.Westphalianshipment.. There !were tv;d grades, arid the lower contained over 18 per cent, phosphoric acid. S. Laurie, of W., S. Laurie and : Co.j which firm shipped the "manure, said that he bad disposed of 150 tone to Bond and | ; BelL Altogether, his firm had sold 1600 I tons of the slag, and the present : complaint was the only one which -they had had, while all the other reports were of a; very satisfactory .'■/■ > ' . For" the defence, Enos Bond, of Bond and Bell, said that in February last he sold 50 tons of basic slag 'to plaintiff at £3 10s a ton. The transactio» was made verbally, and a confirmation ; was .handed to plaintiff at the time. ( The shipping analysis furnished to plaintiff was that received from the ; shippersW. ■■ S.: Laurie and Co. .Plaintiff first asked for 20 tons, and witness quoted him £3 15s, less 2£ per cent. Plaintiff said the price was too high, and witness told him that if' he wanted bedrock price he would - let him have 50 tons straight from the ship's side, free on rail, at £3 10s a ton net. ' The cost of the material delivered at the truck" to witness would be £3 7s a ton.; Plaintiff agreed to take the 50 tons. 'i. There was no arrangement with plaintiff that the latter was only to take 20 tons and witness was to supply the other 30 tons if he required it. No arrangement was then made that witness would ; get the basic, slag analysed, nor had plaintiff mentioned any tiling about fineness. , 'Subsequently, on February 27, he received a letter from plaintiff' stating that he had only ordered 20 tons, but that it was understood that he could have the other 30, tons if he liked. Later he saw plaintiff, and told him that if he did not take the full 50 tons he would be charged the higher price for it. Towards the end of March witness' storeman told him that plaintiff had called in and cancelled the balance.of his contractsl4 tons. Continuing, witness said that -when he got' Mr., Pond's analysis, he found the manure was even better than Mr. Laurie had represented it to him, and that was why he declined to meet Mr. Lorie in any claim. Prior to the arrival of the Westphalian, there- was no basic slag on itness' premises, and the manure had been banded to Mr. Lorio in the same state and condition as he (witness) got it. He concealed absolutely no information whatever from the plaintiff, and! had acted in good faith throughout; • ■ '-■ Robert • John Willis, farmer and storekeeper, of Papakura, said that about January he bought some basic slag from Yates and Co.. A- portion of it he used himself, for top-dressing purposes, with excellent' results. Some of it he sold to customers, and no complaints had been made regarding it. . In fact, he had made inquiries himself, and found that it had given every satisfaction. Mr. Rowan, an • agriculiural inspector, : had taken an analysis of i the samples at witness' store, and he (witness) had ; received a voucher, from Wellington stating.that the amount of phosphoric acid was 18.6. This basic slag was best for top-dressing purposes. • /.' John Bryant and Alexaridei Muir farmers, of East Tamaki and Maaurewa re- ; spectively, gave similar evidence. ■Frederick James Glover, an employee of Brad and Bell for the past 1G years corroborated Mr. - Bond's evidence in relation to the sale. f. ; This concluded the evidence, and the case was adjourned until 10 o'clock this morning, when counsel will address the Court. ; f