MAGISTERIAL

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 11587, 24 October 1901, Page 3

MAGISTERIAL

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23rd, 1901.

(Before Mr C. A, Wray, S.M.)

CIVIL CASE. W. J. Black v. J. Lillico, claim £5 18s for loss sustained through horses having been turned loose on Wai-iti road by deMr Raymond appeared for plaintiff, and Mr Rolleston for defendant. All witnesses were ordered out of Court. Mr Raymond said that Mr Black was a contractor for certain road-making on Beverley property. He had permission to run, and was running his horses after work in the Beverley paddock, with a number of others. On Monday evening, September 23rd, the horses were turned into the paddock, but about 11 o'clock that night they

e got into the stable yard through a gate y being left open by somebody, and were g there when the groom at Beverley came .f out. Defendant was then in the yard, e and askeij the groom whose horses they were. The groom, knowing the' horses, said they were Mr Black's, and suggestede that they should be turned back into the paddock whence they came, but instead of r doing that, defendant drove them out of 3 the yard on to the right-of-way leading i to Wai-iti road. The result was that I three of the four horses were lost, and ; Mr Black's work was brought to a stand1' still for two days. Mr Black a.nd his son scoured the country, and. ultimately the • latter found the three horses at Makikihi. i As ;Soon as the horses were turned out of the yard the groom went straight to ■ the camp and told. Sir Black's men, who immediately got up and went in search of ' , the horses, but failed to find them. Mr W. J. Black, contractor, the owner of the horses, gave evidence regarding the stoppage of work occasioned by the loss of the horses. He estimated his loss at £1 per day for loss of work, and the balance for expenses. The horses had no right, to be in the stable yard. Upon being told that the horses had been turned out, his son and a man named Wilson went searching for them at 11 o'clock. It was impossible for the men to catch the horses then, as they would, have been frightened, and might have gone anywhere. The whole work was absoluiely suspended, as the navvies had to go home. Frank O'Rorke said he was gardener and groom at Beverley on the date in question. Remembered going into the stable yard that night, and finding four horses there. Mr Lillico, a boarder at Beverley, was also there. There was a gate from ] Beverley paddock into the stable yard, but j he could not say whether it was open or j not. At this stage his; Worship said the wit- j ness was too much under the influence of j liquor to give his evidence properly, a'nd c the case had better be adjoume'd. ] Mr Raymond concurred. c Mr Rolleston strongly opposed the adjournment, and asked for full costs for ] his witnesses. r After a little discussion his Worship a adjourned the case for a week, allowing ,t defendant 10s for each of three witnesses, t and £1 Is professional fee. s , t GERALDINE.—TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 22nd. v (Before Mr C. A. Wray, S.M.) a PROCURING LIQUOR, Michael Dempsey, who pleaded guilty to obtaining liquor for a prohibited person, was fined £4 and', costs, in default one month's imprisonment, and was allowed one week in which to pay the fine. GIViL CASE. G. E. Rowland v. John Leary, jun., claim £2 10s, dishonoured promissory note. Judgment- for plaintiff by default for amount claimed, with costs lis. ACTION' FOR DAMAGES. F. Simmons (horse owner) v. Fleming Bros, (traction engine owners), claim £44 2s damages caused by defendants' alleged negligence on October sth in not stopping their traction engine when called upon "to do so, whereby the carriage stallion Agamemnon was injured and thrown out of service for one week.

Mr Raymond appeared for plaintiff, and Mr Rolleston for defendants.

The evidence of Henry Scott, groom in charge of Agamemnon, was to the effect that he saw the engine approaching from the Geraldine downs, and that he put up his right hand with the reins in it as a signal. He was riding a hack and leading! the stallion. He also shouted several times. The drivers did not pull up at all, and when they got close up they swerved round on to him, causing his hack to pull back and the stallion to plunge round on to the engine, injuring its shoulder. He also stated that the engine-driver deliberately blew off steam in the face of. the stallion. •

In cross-examination the groom admitted that he had served three mares, tried two, and : taken orders for four from Monday, the 7th October, till Saturday, the 12th, the week following the Saturday on which the accident occurred, and that ±he horse had. travelled for exercise in different parts of the district on every day except Saturday.; ' . Albert Sydney Sugden saw the accident froni his verandah several hundred yards away. Would only swear .that he saw the groom put his hand up once, but saw him apparently shouting, though could not hear him. Would swear that the engine stopped when the horses played up, but did not see it swerve and did not see any steam. The horses were a chain away from the engine when it pulled up. and did not see the horse strike against the engine.

Annie Sugden and Caroline Meredith saw the accident from the road. They also saw the signal of the groom and heard his shouts and saw steam blown off. Annie Sugden swore that the horse was close on the engine when it stopped, and the other witness that it was as far away as the width of the Court-room,, but neither saw it strike the engine. F. Simmons deposed that when he saw the horse at Temuka and heard about the accident, he ordered the horse to be taken home for treatment, and had lost the horse's services in the beat week of the season.

Before the lunch adjournment Mr Itolleston asked for a nonsuit on the ground that the damage had not been proved, and that plaintiff had failed to bring evidence of the loss of a single mare through the alleged accident. ' His Worship d§cid?i to hear the deWilliam Fleming, and Johfi Fleming, . owners of the engine, and Michael Guthrie, a passenger on the engine, swore that the horse was a chain away from the engine when they pulled up, and that it never was within five or six yards of it at any time, and that it passed the engine quietly after the plunging had ceased. The Fleming Brothers swore they did not see any signal made by the groom, and Guthrie, on the coal bos of the engine,, was not in a position to see it. at the time it was alleged to have been made. Guthrie said he saw the entire playing up a little over three chains off. The evidence of Jonas Fifield, Henry Lee, G. E. Rowland, and N. Sherratt was called to prove that mares had been served, and that the horse appeared to be all right. James Monaghan and Patrick O Connor, grooms, were called to prove that Agamemnon attended ■ the Temuka horse parade on the Tuesday after the accident and trotted without any signs of lameness, Alexander McLeod, mill-owner, ■ gave it as his opinion, that with a six-ton load on it was dangerous to life to attempt to rtop on a hill like the one in question, and that when the machinery was stopped it was impossible to blow Off Steam on defendant's engine. In reversing the engines the draw-bar would get 'buckled with the weight behind, and there was gr«U danger of an explosion of the boiler. He would not think of stopping exempt in an extreme ease where a, life "Was at stake, and he did not think that any reasonable men "would call upon a driver to stop under such circumstance?. ■ The case lasted all day, and Mr Wray reserved his decision till next Court day. The Court then rose.