CIVIL SITTINGS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5689, 7 October 1896, Page 3

CIVIL SITTINGS.

(Before his Honor Mr Justice Denniston and a special jury of four.) TOMLINSON V. MYERS. This was an action to recover damages for an alleged malicious prosecution. Mr Wilding appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Joynt for the defendant. The plaintiff was Frederick Tomlinson, of Belfast, farmer, and the defendant John Scott Myers, of Marshlands, farmer. The statement of claim set forth that on Jan. 31, 1895, the defendant had falsely and. maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause laid a criminal ' information against the plaintiff for perjury in a case between Maximilian Cole and the defendant, before Mr E. Bectham, S.M., at Christchurch, on Oct. 30, 1894, by swearing that the informant (Myers) had nothing whatever to do with the land, that he (Frederick Tomlinson) never instructed the informant to sell it on his behalf, that he did the business himself with Cole in informant's house, and that there never was an agreement between himself and informant respecting the sale of his property. The defendant had requested Mr Beetham to issue a summons to the plaintiff to answer the information, but Mr Beetham refused. On July 14, 1896, the defendant laid a second criminal information, before Mr A. Ayers, J.P., against the plaintiff for perjury before Mr Beetham, at Christchurch, on Dec. 5, 1895, by having sworn in a case between himself and the defendant that he had never agreed with Myers to lay down in grass a certain paddock at Marshlands for himself ; that he had never made an agreement with Myers at any time about anything, and that Myers had never done the work at Belfast for which he was then seeking to recover payment from Tomlinson. The defendant also caused a summons to be issued under the hand of Mr A. Ayers, and, after two adjournments, the information was heard before Mr H. W. Bishop, S.M., and Mr S. Lawrence, J.P., at Christchurch, on August 3, 1896, and was dismissed. The plaintiff soxight to recover .£250 damages and .£3O for out-of-pocket expenses and compensation for loss of time. , The statement of defence was a general denial of all the allegations of the statement of claim. Mr Wilding opened for the plaintiff, and Mr Joynt applied that the first and second clavises of the statement of claim, referring to the information laid on Jan. 31, 1895, should be struck out. Mr Wilding said that he did not propose to ask for damages on those clauses, and they were struck out. Mr Wilding opened the case on the remaining clauses, statiug that Tomlinson had leased the land at Marshlands from Cole, and agreed with Cole, but not with Myers, to lay it down in grass. Myers asserted that Tomlinson had made the agreement with him, and he (Myers) ' brought an action in the Magistrate's 1 Court to recover the cost of putting down the grass. The case was decided .against ' him. At the same hearing he claimed ' wages for two days' work with a plough on some land belonging to Tomlinson at Belfast. Tomlinson asserted that he had not engaged Myers to do the work. , The Magistrate decided that point also against Myers. Myers laid the information for perjury against Tomlinson on account of his evidence at the hearing of the case, and Mr Ayers, though he appeared to have t received a friendly intimation that a summons previously 'applied for had been refused, issued a summons. : Evidence for the plaintiff was given by a . number of witnesses. [Left sitting.]