CLAIM SUCCEEDS

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21033, 8 February 1940, Page 11

CLAIM SUCCEEDS

FARMER SUES LANDLORD BUTTERMILK FROM PIPE (Special to Times) PUKEKOHE, Wednesday Reserved decision was given by Mr F. H. Levien, S.M., in the Pukekoho Court to-day on a claim for £250 brought by a farm lessee, Phillip Osborne Bonham, of Hamilton (Mr M. R. Grierson), against his landlord, Stanley Campbell Sycamore, of Waiuku (Mr A. P. King). The magistrate ordered defendant to pay the plaintiff £BS. Plaintiff leased a pig farm at Waiuku from defendant and, with it, a pipe-line from the Waiuku butter factory to the farm, through which the buttermilk from the factory was pumped to the leased property, the buttermilk forming the staple food of the pigs. En route, the pipeline passed through a farm which defendant himself occupied, and there was a tap on the line in this farm, through which, plaintiff alleged, defendant had drawn more buttermilk than he was entitled. Plaintiff further said defendant did not repair a leak satisfactorily, with the result that he lost buttermilk from this cause. He renewed about 800 ft. of the line himself.

The magistrate said the £BS awarded comprised £45 for the buttermilk wrongfully taken by defendant from the tap, £25 for the buttermilk lost through the leaks, and £ls on account of incidental losses to which plaintiff had been put. The magistrate left counsel to adjust the costs and submit their adjustment to him.