DISPUTED OWNERSHIP OF CATTLE.

Waipa Post, Volume VIII, Issue 364, 6 November 1914, Page 2

DISPUTED OWNERSHIP OF CATTLE.

RESERVED JUDGMENT.

The reserved judgment of Mr E. Rawson, S.M., in the case of Gwillim Bros., plaintiffs, and G. W. Petley and A. W. Jones, defendants, was delivered on Wednesday morning, as follows : Without entering into a detailed examination of the various factors in this case which have determined my opinion as to the ownership of the beasts in question, I have no hesitation in saying that with regard to 15 of them (including the two belonging to Beere), the weight of evidence is on the side of the claimant Jones. But with regard to Nos. 5 and 6 I am not able to say that Jones has satisfactorily established his claim, although I have had some difficulty in arriving at this conclusion. The result is that the plaintiffs will have judgment under Section 14 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1908, against the defendant Petley for £49 T9s, the price of six steers at £3 9s, and nine heifers at £3 ss, and the sum of £ll T4S 2d for damages with costs to be fixed by the clerk of the court. The plaintiffs will be nonsuited against the defendant Petley in respect of the other two cattle, without costs, Judgment will be for the plaintiffs against the defendant Jones in respect of the two beasts referred to above for the sum of £7 5s 6d without costs, and judgment will be for the defendant Jones so far as regards the claim in respect of the 15, the balance of the 17, with costs, to be settled b: the clerk ot the court. As this action has resulted from the fault of the defendant Petley in not taking sufficient care to satisfy himself as to the ownership of the cattle he sold to the plaintiffs, leave will be reserved to the plaintiffs 10 move if so desired, that the defendant Petley be ordered to pay the plaintiffs the costs they are liable to pay the defendart Jones under this judgment.

The clerk of the court and the counsel for the different parties concerned are arranging the question of costs.