A TROTTING MARE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 60

A TROTTING MARE.

KILLED IN MOTOR ACCIDENT. WIDELY DIVERSE IDEAS OF VALUE. CHRISTCHURCH, August 27. Was Florrie Huon, a trotting mare which was killed in a street collision last year, worth £6OO as the two owners claimed, or was it dear at £5O, as Maurice Kenrick Whate and his solicitors contended ? This was a question that a jury was asked to settle in the Supreme Court this afternoon, when Frederick Martin, of Christchurch, press agent, and Maurice O’Connell, of Tai Tapu, saddler, claimed from Maurice Kenrick Whate, of Christchurch, clerk, the smn of £6OO as damages in consequence of a collision on November 2, 1927, between a motor car driven by the defendant, and a mare and gig driven by Frank Needham, as the result of which the mare had to be destroyed. The defendant admitted negligence, but disputed the value placed on the mare, and had paid into court the sum of £lOO which, he contended, was enough to satisfy the plaintiff’s claims. Expert evidence was called by both parties, and while some experts asserted that the -mare would have been a good bargain at between £5OO and £6OO others declared that £5O or £75 would have been more than it was worth. The case lasted the whole afternoon, and the jury after half an hour’s retirement awarded the plaintiff £lOO, which was the amount paid into court. Mr Justice Adams was On/this bench. Mr R. Twyneham • appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr A. T. Donnelly, with him, Mr K. M. Grcssoh, for* the defendant.. <. - • ; Maurice o’Conpell said that he, paid £2OO . for the mare. She was six-.,years of age when she began her racing career.

jiie raced for one season and then he asked Mr Needham to take her out as she was too fresh. He questioned if he would have taken £6OO for her. In answer to Mr Donnelly witness said that the mare won £5O in stakes. Asked why, after the mare haa hurt her knee and been out of action for 20 months, her value was increased from £2OO to £6OO witness replied: “ She was showing speed all the time. She had most of her time in front of her.” “ And a good deal behind her,” Mr Donnelly retorted. “My witnesses are going to say that this horse was dear at £50.” Harry Frost and James N. Clarke, well-known trainers and drivers, estimated the horse’s value as a good maiden at about £6OO. James Bryce, trotting trainer and driver, said that from £5O to £75 would be a great price for the mare. She was a Wildwood Junior mare, and there were not many of those mares that reached good company. She had not been able to win at Nelson, which was the fastest track on which he had ever raced ahorse. “ They are only the cheap-priced horses there,” witness said. “ You would not take a decent horse there. They are the slowest class we have. If a horse could not win there I would sell him very cheaply.” Witness added that with her performances the mare would have to be taken to Kaikoura and places of that sort to race. He would think that at seven years old the horse would be done for racing. Mr Twyneham: Is it not possible for any horse to strike itself on a bad track? Witness: A good horse would not do it. She knocked her knee in a race a donkey would have won. It was the worst race I have seen. If she had been a good horse she would not have needed that leg at all. Mr Twyneham: She could have ivon on three legs?—Yes. Edward James Smith and George Simpson, trotting experts, gave similar evidence. Judgment was given for plaintiffs for £lOO, the amount paid into court, with costs for the issue of the writ (£6 4s), all other costs being given for the defendant.