A LAWYERS’ SQUABBLE

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9692, 21 June 1917, Page 10

A LAWYERS’ SQUABBLE

PIIEUC TRUST CO.'.IESY LAST ACT RE FORE MILITAJIY .SERVICE HOARD. At yesteaciay’.s sitting of tho Military Servae I’rani a -olieilor staled l ha;, be had asked Mr J, AV. Macdonald (m)IU ;;or, in rkn Public Trust Oiiice) iu attend the meeting of tho board, so that he- aught deny in his liie-vr.ee tile -la nreul made by Mr Macdonald that he had kept i.ixe Public Tui.-t Cilice wailing two months with regard to a posiliim. and laid then made absurd conditions and ihro’.vn it over. Mr D. G. A. Cooper (chairman); “No name was mentioned. You arc not necessarily the man re!erred to-’’ •‘No, .sir; lam the man referred to,” lias tile reply; “and I wish to deny the truth oi the slaUumuii,’’ ivir Maedouald: “X recede Horn uoilmig 1 said. But, as I point out iu my written statement to the board, the matter of the carpet was inadvertcully misconstrued in the press.” Tiie solicitor declared that the .state, meat made was very unfair, and had induced Captain VFalker (the military representative) to describe tho man, and justly, i( the facts were as^stated, us a .shirker, if not a traitor,'' Tho facts of the case were, he said, that he had entered into a definite arrange, ment with the Public Trust Ofiico to take charge ol' the conveyancing work', and his only reservation was that there was to be no night-work. But ho found that lie was to do, not conveyancing work, but common-law work, which it had been agreed with Mr Macdonald ho would not have to do. He had made the reservation as to night work on account jof his health, lie had twice volunteered, but had boon turned down as medically unlit. Last time ho was examined by Sur-geon-General Henderson, who had dedal cd him unfit not only for active service but for homo service. But lie felt that lie was bound to do something in the nature of wav work, and therefore ho had fossicked out wdiat he considered to bo the hardest-pushed department nuclei’ the Government, and offered to go to thorn for a moderate salary if they would give him seven weeks iu which to wind up his affairs and give up the management of a large conveyancing firm in Auckland. Yet he had been treated in the wav ho had described. Ho had not. objected to tho carpet in his room, or anything of that kind. In fact, ho had not .seen the room Tie was to work in. Air Macdonald said that ho did not wish to take up the time of tho board unnecessarily. The facts as admitted ~by the gentleman that afternoon were substantially as he had stated them in tho first instance to the board, and ns reported, with the exception of tho carpet incident. With regard to that, the facts were that tho room originally allotted to the gentleman had a carpet, while the second room had not, and he, had suggested that _ perhaps that made a difference to him. Ho adhered to all ho had said. If the report was so inaccurate, as the gentleman claimed, and as others bad. refused the appointment,’ why did he maintain that he was tho man referred to? H war work was tho consideration, he thought that it was up to a man to take the position assigned to him. They asked the gentleman to take temporarily the, one position, with a view to his afterwards having the con, vevanoing position, but ho refused. Mr McLaren s aid that tho board should not waste any more time on the matter. It was one that the two gentlemen concerned could very well have settled between themselves outside. Air Alacdonald said that ho was only present because he understood that tho board requested it. Mr Cooper said that the hoard had nothing to do with the matter. The board could not decide between them. But when the gentleman wished to flatly deny Air Alacdonald’s statement, they felt "that it was only right that Mr‘ Macdonald should have an opportunity of being present when 'he denied it. * Thu incident then dosed.