DRILLER AND OIL COMPANY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 19, 23 June 1913, Page 7

DRILLER AND OIL COMPANY.

ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT. BEFORE SUPREME COURT. INTERESTING EVIDENCE. At the Supremo Court on Saturday, Charles Peter Mayner sued the Taranaki (N.Z.) Oil Wells" Ltd. on a claim for £3BO 8s 4d, damages for alleged breach of contract. Mr. A. H, Johnstone appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. J. H. Quilliam for -the defendant company. In opening his case, counsel for the plaintiff said that his client was an oilwell driller of nearly 30 years' experience gathered in oil-fields in various parts of the world. In the early part of last year, plaintiff went to London in connection with some business lie had been previously doing in Russia. While in London, he met Gillespie and Co., agents for the sale of a drilling plant, J known as the Parker rotary drilling nia- ! chine. The plaintiff was unable to leave London immediately and was occupied some part of his time assisting in the sale of Parker rotary drills. Plaintiff would say that Gillespie and Co. entered into negotiations subsequently with the Taranaki (N.Z.) Oil Wells Ltd., and sold them a Parker rotary drill. Gillespie and Co. suggested that plaintiff should go to New Zealand in charge of this rotary drill, and terms were arranged between Gillespie and Co. and Mr. J. D. Henry, technical adviser to the defendant company. Subsequently, plaintiff wmf to America, to a place in Tennessee where the Parker rotary drill was manufactured. There he entered into a contract which was appended to the statement of cl.iim. In pursuance of that contract, he came out to New Zi.aJand, and reported himself to die representatives of the Taranaki (N.'i.) 'iil Wells Ltd., in New Plymouth. At t'le. lime the contract was entered into, Gillespie and Co. stated that t:iey were the agents of the Tarana.ii (K.'z.) -"iil Wells Ltd. Charles Peter Mayner, r.il-vHI driller and plaintiff in this action, deposrd that he had been connected with oildrilling ever since 1883. He 'irst used the Parker rotary drill in P. 107, hut had used other rotary drills before t.),i ß . In j the year 1!)12, Tie was in Lonlon, and while there met a firm styled GLespie and Co., who were agents for Gieat Britain and the colonies for the Parker Rotary Drill. This firm <old a rotary plant to the defendant eompnuv, for which Mr. J, D. Henry, technical adviser • for the New Zealand Oil Wells Ltd. Company, negotiated the sale. Witness jsaw Mr. Henry, and asked for letters, of introduction stating that he was eomI mg out to New Zealand to run this | I plant for the "Henry Company." Mr. \ ] Henry said that that was news to him. Witness then talked a few minutes with Mr. Henry, left the office, and went to I Mr. Gillespie's office, telling the lastnamed of the conversation he had had with Mr. Henry. Gillespie rang up Mr. Henry, and said he had engaged Mr. j Mayner to go to New Zealand'for the ,; llenrv Company." They talked further on the matter, but, witness only heard I one side of the conversation. Gillespie j Chen told witness to go ahead as everything was all right, A few davs after, witness left London, and went'to Tennessee, in which state the Parker Rotary was manufactured. Before he left London lie had discussed and settled terms with Mr. Gillespie. In Tennessee he met Mr. Young, president of the Southern Well Works Companv, manufacturers of the. Parker Rotary, and while there he signed a contract with Gillespie and Co., per J. A. Young. Tlav- : in? signed the contract, he received 200 i 1 Mars travelling expenses and an order '" r his passage money. On August 21J 1 • left San Francisco, and arrived in Wellington on September 12th. In Wellington he met Mr. IT. J. Okey, M.P.. whom he understood to he a director of the. companv. Witness staved at the Roval Oak, and the Taranaki Oil Comjiiiiv.- paid the bill. When he arrived in New Plymouth. Mr. Carter, chairman of the local Board, and Mr. Tribe, sf<rotary of the company, met him at the station. He was directed to the G.rosvenor Hotel, the White Hart hiving no vacancy, bah as soon as there was"one >'.t the latter hotel lie went up there. He was charged £2 10s per week, and this sum was allowed him for expenses during the whole, time he was in the employ of the/defendant company. Mr. N. J. McLeod, another driller, had come out with him, but he did not show the contract to McLeod. Shortly after he had arrived in New Plymouth, he was at (.lie company's office, and the question of contracts .was brought up before Messrs. Carter and Tribe. Witness did not have his contract wit'.i him, but Mr. McLeod had his. and Mr. Carter looked at it. rend it over, and asked McLeod to leave it at the office, as he wanted to have a cony made. It was his belief th.ai, McLeod's contract was identical with his own. He started work a few days after he arrived, and proceeded to erect the derrick. On October 5, he was paid, and witness identified the receipt giv.-u by him, It had never been suggested fri him j n \ew Plvinouth that he wits being employed by Gillespie's firm. The onlv demur tlt-it was made was that the companv thought that McLeod and lie were being allowed too much exunise monev. the. company thought Gp I £2 a week would be sufficient. Witness "had been in New Plvmonf.h two months before the plant arrived, and he told the chairman that tlmy required tongs, tool joists, and other appliances as well us upset pipes, .or their work. Thev commenced work under instruclions from Mr. Carter. The boring wept on satisfactorily for some time, and they went down forty feet in a few hours. They did not do anv more work for some time, being short of tools. Re-commencing work, thev had to pass through boulders, veiv difficult and slow work. At 120 feet the 20-iiHi bit unscrewed off, and when that happened, they resorted to fishing. „.„,] tried to recover the. bit but without success, although they adonfed all the methods that they kimw. The date when this occurred was January 2.->th. of (his year, incy were in communication with the ,limctors more or less even- day, ami thev attended a meeting 0 f the directors, whore they made a verbal report, but a written report was asked for. After , making this report, witness worked for some fifteen, davsduring which time, hev tried to drill past the liit. Then jey were called into the office before toe Board, and the directors said they y-re ma.Vme such slow proofs that '?y would have 'to work '«>];.* Mr

Keith's instructions. Previously only

? j the directors had been over them. When e ' Mr. Keith took charge, the rotary plant • was shut down and a percussion plant ' erected. Witness hejieved that ttiols 1 were made to attempt to fish out the 1 bit. Subsequently to Mr. Keith taking » charge,. witness worked at the bore. t Witness then got notice of dismissal, • dated April 12th, and giving a month's ■ notice. In the contract, which was for i 12 months, New Plymouth was set down • as his destination. When making his ar- , rangeinents with Mr. Gillespie it was ■ made clear that he should work for Mr. Henry's company. At Tennessee, i Mr. Young stated . that witness could ■ either go to Australia or New Zealand, , but witness said he had made arrangements with Mr. Gillespie to go to New Zealand where the Taranaki Oil Company were to be his employers. To Mr. Quilliam: He remembered Mr. Carter saying that the contract was not worth the paper it was written on, the occasion being when McLeod produced his contract in the company's oll'ice. Mr. Carter had commented on the way the document was drawn up','' and said he did not know where it began or where it terminated. Witness or McLeod then said that if the contract was no good, they had better have a contract drawn up which would be good. He did not recollect Mr. Carter saying that it could not be renewed unless confinned by' the London Board. On his arrival he drew £2O at a time on > account of wages. The cause of the twenty-inch bit being lost was that the thread had been stripped through working in hard rock. He was satisfied that the bore was straight. The bore could go on an incline of 9 inches in 90 feet, and it would not make the bore useless. When down 00 feet, they did not strip the casing l . ' They were not 1 drilling on April 10th, hut were putting in easing. The casing broke that day, because it was not rotating. When they were rotating the pipe, the thread was worn off two pieces of casing. During the time he was at the bore, several pieces of easing had to be re-threaded. Once or twice," when they were fishing, the directors complained' of the slow progres.. Witness said they would probably know in fourteen days what McLeod and he would do. Thev got a Ki-inch hole past the bit lost* in the well, with the purpose of putting in W/ 2 inch easing. When Mr. Keith stopped the work, they were a few feet past the bit. They were fishing for some six weeks. It was not customary to start a new bore until every effort had failed to sidc-traek the bit He thought six weeks was a. reasonable time to keep , fishing for a bit; he had known eases where six months was spent. Up to the time Mr. Keith took charge, no one interfered with him. Re-examined by Mr. Johnstone, witness detailed the method adopted in putting the bore down plumb. After the first fiO feet had been drilled the bore could not go crooked. There would, however, be a slight deflection where the hit was passed. On the 10th of April,' Mr. Keith ' was in charge and was "at the works some time during the day. Their instructions that day were to try and get the casing past the bit. They kept on '.fishing so long because" they had got through the bad' portion and might have J got into trouble before they had proI ceeded so far in another bore. Thev had I not got the proper tools for the work, 1 in spite of the fact that they had asked for them. To His Honor: Mr. Gillespie said that all the agreements were made in America by the Rotary Companv, although Mr. Gillespie made the terms. His Honor: How do you explain the fact that the agreement was not prepared and signed in London? Witness: Mr. Gillespie arranged for me to come over here and spoke about the terms, and asked me to write him a letter if I would accept those terms. !' This I di<l. He sent my letter to America to the firm who made the plant, also a cablegram that I was noma to New Zealand. He told me that the contract would he, prepared in America, and T took it for granted that that was all right because I had been ; out on jobs before on a similar control. His Honor: DM y OII 110f k, IOW tlirro was a London Board of the Taranaki (N T .Z.) Oil Wells Ltd.? Witness: Yes, but T did not know : where their oll'ice was. T went to see Mr. Henry about it and told him 1! ' would like to see Lord Ranfurlv jor some : 'of the directors, but he said they were ' out rf town. ' i His Honor: Hid you. really think that a company with a Lord in office would ' allow ■.'. contract such as this to be made on their behalf by another company and in America? Witness: Yes, Sir! His Honor: And yet you tell me that all the terms of this contract had been agreed upon by yon ami Mr. Gillespie? ' Witness: Yes", Sir! ■ His Honor: Have vou a copv of that ' letiir? " 1 Witu"?--: No, I was not keeping cop- t ies of letters at that time. i His Honor: What is the ground on l which you ask the Court u> find thi'.t J the Lonioii B'mrd had adopted your con- i 1 tract? ' t Witness: Because they lived up to £ ili' ir terms of the contract. They paid us according to everything in the on- » tract, and therefore I thought the con- s tract was adopted by them. ( ; To Mr. Quilliam: He had not been i actually assisting them in selling aim- 1 (her rotary plant. He did not get paid for that, but secured the former to f come out to New Zealand. I To Mr. Johnstone: He had worked i on this kind of contract before. N. J. McLeod, oil-well driller, working at New Plymouth, deposed that lie came to New Zealand in company with Mr. Mayner. Shortly after his arrival at New Plymouth, he had met Mr. Tribe t and Mr. Carter at the company's office. Witness showed his contract, which he thought was a copy of U. 12 ether, to Mr, ' Carter, who took a copy of it. All the time no exception was taken to the conti'iiei', llir/.ijh remarks were made on j the way in which it was drawn up. There ' were several interviews with the Board at different times, but no exception was ■■ taken at any of these meetings to the ■" term of the contract, but at one of the meetings Mr. Carter informed him that - the expenses were too much. He understood that it was the London Board who wee complaining. Witness worked at tii" bore with Mr. Mayner, and they retorted to the Hoard. To Mr. Quilliam: Tip, did not remember Mr. Carter tellim: him and Mr. Ma-,nor that in their first interview that tlie Hoard would have to consult the London Board befors'. they could adopt the agreement. To His Honor: His contract was made in America and signed bv the President of the Southern Wells "Works Co. for . GillespV and Co. His Honor: And whom did vou sunpose you were going to work for under this contract? Witness: The Taranaki Oil Wells Ltd. His Honor: Whv should the contract be made out in the name of Gillespie and Co? Witness: Because Gillespie and Co. were authorised to engage two experts to go to New Plymouth. This eWd the'ense f or the plaintiff. Mr. Quilliam applied for a non-suit on the ground that there was no evidence of any authority from the Tarana.ki Oil Wells Ltd to Gillespie and Co. to enter into this contract. Mr. Onilliam submitted that Mayner and McLeod had been given proper' notice. Mavner had refused to <w on I , work-in". 1.-.*- M«Lend Iv.vl done s,. "The--had paid £S7 10s into Court in respect

of wages, etc., due to the plaintiir. Mr. Quillinm contended further that what had been done by the Company could not possibly amount to ratification of the contract. Such a contract could not be ratified. . His Honor stated that plaintiff must { he non-suited. ' Air. A. 11. Johnstone agreed to be' non-suited, but a point arising as to the ! £B7 10s paid into Court, judgment by ' consent for plaintiff was oraeml for the j amount. I Xo costs were asked for hv the de- i fendant company. ' j