COSMOPOLITAN CLUB

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 125, 21 May 1932, Page 3

COSMOPOLITAN CLUB

Member Sued For Dues “DID NOT KNOW IT EXISTED” SUM AWARDED TO PLAINTIFF At the Waipukurau Magistrate’s Court yesterday, before Mr. J. Millar, S.M., F. Sayliss, R. Davey (Jr.), and D. B. Kent, as trustees of the Waipukurau Cosmopolitan Club, claimed from P. F. Wall, the sum of £3 10s, allegedly due as follows: — Entrance fee 10/-, subscription (1930) £1 10/-, subscription (1931) £1 10s.

After hearing evidence and legal argument the Magistrate gave judgment for plaintiff for the entrance fee and the first year’s subscription, together with costs amounting to 12s, which sum (£2 12s) had been paid into Court by the defendant without prejudice.

W. Adams, the secretary of the club, said that the defendant, with eight others, had signed an application for the registration of the club, and had thereby agreed to obey the rules of that body. He had paid no entrance fee and no subscriptions and his name "had never been struck off the register of members. He was indebted to the club for £3 10s, made up as shown in the statement of claim.

Cross-examined, witness said that a notice had been sent to the defendant informing him that he was a member of the club and that his subscription was due. A further notice of the half-yearly meeting had also been sent to defendant. Witness said he was certain that he had sent the notifications, although he had no proof of this. He had not sent out any demands for the second year’s subscription, as the whole matter had been “treated with contempt” by defendant.

In reply to a question witness said that there were about 80 members of the club, of whom, only about 10 were financial.

The Magistrate: Have the others resigned?

Mr. Neild, counsel for the plaintiff: No, they are sitting back, waiting to see which way the “cat jumps!” The defendant, P. F. Wall, in ev_dence, admitted having signed the application for the registration of the club. Shortly afterwards, he said, he left on a trip to England and he heard nothing more of the matter, until just before the summons was issued, when he received a demand for the entrance fee and two years’

subscriptions. He had never received any notification that he was regarded as a member and, in fact, was not aware that the club had been registered.

Cross-examined by Mr. D. W. Neild, witness said that when he returned from England in November, 1 930, he was not aware that the club had been formed. He did not discuss the club with Mr. Kent or with anyone else. He denied that he had joined the club, as the result of a bargain with Mr. Kent that, if the latter joined the Jockey Club, he would join the Cosmopolitan Club. I. W. N. Mackie, said that he had acted as attorney for defendant when he vzas abroad. He had received no notification of any sort from the club on behalf of defendant. Until two months ago he did not known that the club was in existence. Mr. Neild: Do you not remember seeing in Mr. Kent’s window* all last year a notice that “this is the registered office of the Waipukurau Cosmopolitan Club”? —No. The Magistrate intimated that he would have to accept the secretary’s statement that two notifications had been sent out. The secretary, however, should have sent out notices as the subscriptions became due each quarter in the second year. He could not help thinking that defendant should have received some notification after he returned from England. He considered that defendant’s position was slightly different from that of other unfinancial members of the club, owing to the fact that he had been abroad. He would, therefore give judgment only for the amount paid into court. Distinctions and titles spread glamour for some, Who keenly anticipate honours to come; But Nature disdains such pretence in her plan For thoroughbred dog or for thoroughman. True quality springs from our innermostworth, And genuine merit is “salt of the earth’’ —- For bronchial affliction such worth you assure In sterling Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure. 5