SHARE-MILKER'S PROFITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 29 November 1929, Page 16

SHARE-MILKER'S PROFITS.

ASSESSING PROPORTION.

FARMER'S APPEAL DISMISSED

[BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON,. Thursday.

The question whether capital assets or the annual yield only should be taken into account in assessing a share-milker's proportion' of the profits of a mixed dairy and sheep farm was involved in an appeal heard before Mr. Justice Herdman in the Hamilton Supreme Court 1 today. The appellant was Joshua Mathers (Mr. E. M. Mackersey), farmer, Te Kuiti, and the respondent was Cyril Edgecumbe (Mr. W. J. King}, sharemilker, Te' Kuiti.

Mathers appealed from a decision of Mr. F. W. Platts, S.M., who gave judgment for Edgecumbe for ,£SO 19s 2d, inclusive of costs, in a share-milking dispute heard in the Te Kuiti Magistrate's Court. The dispute arose out of a contract" under which Edgecumbe managed a mixed sheep and dairy farm owned by Mathers near Te Kuiti. The basis of the contract was that Edgecumbe should receive one-sixth qf the profits on the dairy herd and one-sixth of the profits on the sheep. The appellant,. Mathers, challenged amounts totalling £22 14s, covering numerous items in respect of which the magistrate had decided in favour of respondent. Appellant's contention was that, in the assessment of the proportion of (he profits, capital assets, such as the cost price of the sheep and cattle, should be taken into account and deducted from the actual income.

Respondent, on the other hand, contended that the profits should be confined to the actual yield in the form of butterfat from the cows and wool and lambs from the sheep.

His Honor, in dismissing the appeal, held that the capital assets should be excluded in the assessment of the profits.