HOTEL FINANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22206, 5 September 1935, Page 14

HOTEL FINANCE

LEGAL POINT DECIDED A LIMITED PARTNERSHIP A preliminary legal question in an action by Frederick Vernon Home, of Auckland, publican, against Charles Pollard, of Wellington, plasterer, and Charles Elias Anderson, of Auckland, clerk, was determined in a judgment issued by Mr. Justice Fair yesterday. The proceedings were taken by Home under the Moneylenders' Act to have set aside by the Court a deed of agreement between Home and Pollard, dated May 23, 1932, under which Pollard advanced to Home a loan of £IOOO on the security of a lease and the chattels of Gleeson's Hotel. Home claimed that the terms of the loan were harsh and unconscionable, and further asked that the accounts between the parties be reopened, and that an order be made for the repayment of any sums paid by plaintiff in excess* of the sum which the Court should adjudge to be fairly due to the defendant Pollard, under such agreement. Tho defendant Charles Elias Anderson was joined as a party as he claimed to have acquired an interest in such agreement by virtue of another agreement made between himself and the defendant Pollard. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Bainbridge appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Richmond and Mr. Wilson for the defence.

At tho hearing certain preliminary questions of law were raised. The first of these was whether the agreement in itself constituted a partnership between plaintiff and the defendant Pollard. His Honor said that in his view clause 16 of the agreement placed the matter beyond doubt, and showed that there was a community of interest in tho adventure, and that the real nature and purpose of the agreement was to constitute a partnership. "The intention of tho parties was, I think, to constitute a partnership," concluded His Honor, "but one in which Pollard's liability was, as between them, to bo limited to the £IOOO contributed by him, and it should be so construed. It is unnecessary for n>c to decide the two other questions referred to. The plaintiff will, after a consideration of this judgment, decide whether he desires to proceed with the hearing of the action."