RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1513, 6 March 1885, Page 2

RESIDENT MA GISTRATE'S COURT

(Before F. Biko, Esq , R.M.)

Thursday, March sth, 18Sr>,

Shaw v. J. F. Watson, (Dunedin.)

This was an action to recover the sum of L7O damages, for breach of agreement in the sale of shares.

Mr Men tea th with Mr North appeared for the plaritiff, and Mr Lynch for the defence.

The following evidence was taken

William John Shaw • I am a bootmaker residing in Reefton : I bought the shares from Mr Lee ; cannot state the dates : Lee bought the shares for me for 1/8 and iv a reasonable time the transfer came through ; I allied Lee to wire to Mrßae the manager of the Company to see if the transfer was all right ; he said this was unnecessary as he had had many transactions with Watson and they were always correct, and he had no doubt the present shares would be forthcoming. Upon this assurance I accepted tlie bought note tendered by Lee and paid the money ; I then wrote to Rae aud learnt from him that there were no shares in the register of the Company in the name of the transferree ; told Lee and he wired to Watson and the latter asked for time ; I said I wanted the transaction settled at once us tho shai*e? were rising ; thoy rose to 6/6 ; I sold some at that price ; when tho transfer turned out to he valueless Lee wired to Watson, the result being that I could not get the shares until they had fallen in the market ; Watson wired to know what value I put on the shares and I replied 1/9 and upon this Watson wired that he had posted the shares to. the National Bank ; we went to the bank but the manager refused to give us the shares saying he had heen instructed not to part with the shares ; th.* day after we demanded the shares from the bank they rose to 6/6 ; after this the shares began to fill, and I subsequently bought shares at 8/6 at Watson's risk.

By Mr Lynch : Made no attempt to buy 500 shares between the time I bonght from Watson and when they finally arrived ; after I got the shares Anderson off -red me 3/6 for the shares ; Lee acted us my agent in the matter up to the 18th. when he tendered me the shares ; told Lee when he tendered the shares that I did not think I would accept them until I had consulted my solicitor; recollect telling Lee to wire to Watson on the 29th November that I would take the shares at 1/9. Re examined. I paid the money for the shares to Lee ; at that time Lee was not acting on my behalf; the matter was then in the hands of any soli i-itor. Loe was hostile to m* and said he would not assist me in the matter if I sued Watson ; ha said if I sued Grose he would assist me.

Cross examined : Did not toll Lee that he was no longer mv agent ; did not tell Lee to bring me the shares down from the Bank ; did not forbid Lee to take the shares from the Bank.

By the Bench : Up to the time that Lee tendered the shares I had not expressly revoked my agem-y to Lee, but I told him that I had instructed my solicitor.

Thoy. Lee : I am a sliarebroker re- | siding iv Reefton. Received a coin- | mission from Shaw to purchase 500 j Wealth of Nation shares, wired to j Watson and got a reply from him in | November saying that he had closed 1 for 500 at 1/h nett ; on the 12:.h November I replied that f had closed a-t the figure stated ; In pursuance of this I received the transfer from Watson aud on receiving the money I handed the transfer to Shaw ; the draft was drawn upon me ; there was no scrip with the transfer but there was a memo on the document saying that the scrip would be forwarded at an early date ; the next thing Shaw told me there was no shares in the books of the Company to meet the ransfor and the transfer was returned to me. On the 26th I wired to Watson that the transfer had been returned to me from the office of the Company and that there was no shares j to meet it; I then learntthat the shares i had been sold by the Company for lion- j p-tyment of calls; the trunsferree was j Hunter, the calls having readied the tbe ofiice of the Company too lute; on the 20th Nov. 1 received a letter from Watson explaining the difficulty about the forfeiture of tlie shares; I did not tell Shaw that the shares were forfeited. On the 2') th I wired Watson '* Buyer Wealths requires delivery, or viihie of shares by 10 o'clock to-mor- j row "; on the 2-Sth he wired "Trying j

lv arrange, atuto value, mtustgive more

time." Replied the same day " Buyer wants matter settled buyer wants shares or will take 1/9 per share." on the 29th he replied " Wealths will be posted on Wednesday. Send oid transfer back" On the 29th received telegram from Grose as follows •-Rd 50;) Wealths. Unfortunate affair. Would you buy or cancel.'' I replied j referring him to Watson ; tlie next telegram fiom Warson on the Bth Dec. saying that the transfer had been posted ou the previous Saturday and that bnyess were offering 3/10 ; On the 9th Decjuiber Grose wired, asking if I could arrange a settlement. I replied that Watson had posted scrip and no settlement was necessary. Telegraphed Watson ou the 9th asking if he had posted transfer of 500 Weaths as provided. Sent this in consequence of Grose's telegram. On the 9th Watson telegraphed that he had posted. I think the price of the shares at that time was about 4/- On the 20th Watson wired — "Too bad, shares borrowed and sent through National bank," and that he had no Wealths on hand. On the 12th Watson wired Grose had stop ped bank from delivering, and asking me to bo sure and present old transfer to the bank. On the 13th wired to Watson that the hank had refused to deliver; the first time the manager said he had not got the keys ; this was in the evening. Called again next morning and asked for the shares. He said he could not give me the shares. Wired to Watson that the bank had refused to deliver, and asked whether he had made a secure arrangement. He replied that his solicitor had wired to the bank demanding delivery at once. On the loth telegraphed to Watson "Bank says without instructions '* and again the same day " Bank still refuses, buyer very anxious. Must he settled to-morrow " ; on the 1 7th I wired saying that the buyer of the 500 Wealths, threatens action, reply Watson replied " Grose principal, lei buyer sue him " It was when the transfer came that Grose was first disclosed as the principle. The name of the seller on the transfer was " Hunter,'' Grose styles himsolf a share-broker I believe; on the 18th Watson wired " Grose should settle matter." 1 received the transfers fro n the bank on tha 18th, and they wenhanded over to Mr Shaw ; he first wanted to receive them *' without prejudice." Shaw could not have got the shares from the bank ; went to Shaw and told him I had got the transfers ; he told me to bring them dowu ; nothing was said by Shaw about first consulting a solicitor; the receipt produced was written out by Mr Lynch ; I was not instructed by Sh-tw to draw up the receipt producd. I got the receipt for the protection of Watson and myself; I was acting as Shaw's agent; Shaw ha 1 employed a solicitor against Watson : I am giving Mr Lynch information iv this case for Watson ; was not told that Shaw ac cepted the shares undei protest : I was informed by Shaw that he would commence an action against Watson ; I think I did refuse to allow Shaw's solicitor to look at the teb-gruiii3 which had passed over the transaction ; fourteen days is the time allowed for a transfer to come round from Dunedin.

By Mr Lynch: Shaw never revoked his agency with me ; he asked me to bring the transfers down from the bank, the transfers arrived ou the 24th; on the 28th plaintiff offered to take 1/9 ; on the 11th I sold some at 5/ ; on the 12th they were 6/- on the 2Gth December they were down to 3/8 ; the shares did not rise after I

received notice from plaintiff's solicitor that he would sell at defendant's risk.

By Mr Meuteath : I did not divide commission with Watson ; Watson posted the shares on the 3rd December.

Isaac Lewis : I am manager of the National Bank; on the 12th December I received 500 Wealth of Nations shares from Dunedin; the scrip and instructions reached me on the 12th December; application Was made to me on the 13r.1i December for certain shares in the Wealth of Nations Company by Mr Let-. Shaw applied for the shares which were attached to a draft ; I gave the shares up on the 18th ; the draft was drawn by Thomas Grose on Thomas Lee and was accompanied by scrip; I was instructed to hold the shares until the 18th ; on the 18th 1 delivered the shares to Lee ! think Shaw came to the hank on the 13th but on the; 18th Lee came alone ; I reckoned 1 held the shares on Lee's account ; held no other Wealth shares on Lee's account; the draft ou Lee was paid before the 18th.

D. P. Anderson: 1 am a sharebroker rtsiding in Reefton ; on the 12th December Wealths were sold for 6/3, on the 18th 3/f> ; sold some shares for Shaw on the 17th at 3/- ; the shares began to rise early in December and did not remain long at the top price. Sould get shares from Dunedin iv a week ; if I were advised that shares had been posted in Dunedin I would expect them iv a week.

YV. Hindinarsh : 1 am a sliarebroker tlie price of Wealth of Nations shares varied between the 12th November and 18th December; I sold on 18th December for 6/0 ; on the 18th the price would be about 3/6.

! Matthew Wynn :lam an engineer ; i I deal a little in shares ; on the 14th December I sold some Wealths at 6/6. This closed the case for the plaintiff. His Worship reserved judgement until this morning. Assault. John Walker Batt was charged on tho information of Hugh Alexander with assault at Boatman's, on the 19th ult. Defendent pleaded not guilty. Mr Lynch who appeared for the complainant opened the case, afier which he called the following cvi- i deuce.

Hugh Alexander : I am stoiviuan j for Gallagher Bros, at Boatman. : Ui. I the 9th February defendant came into the shop and said " what ahont that b butter " before I knew anything • he raised his hand to strike me ; I had j a hammer in my hand ; he said he would "go for tne,"' closed with him I and got him into a corner, and held i him there until somebody came in ; I did not hit him ; he was very abusive and used filthy language ; gave the man no provocation whatever; had not spoken to defendant for seven or eight months before ; I warded oft the blow he made at me. I

Jeremiah McCarthy and Timothy Carey gave corioborativn evidence.

The defendant said he had nothing to say in defence of the charge and would pay whatever the Court thought proper to order.

His Worship said there was no doubt an assault although a very trivial one, had been committed. If defendant had come into Court in a fit state to defend the case it is possible it might have been dismissed. Find 10/- j*.nd costs. £3 17s in all. Iv default three days imprisonment.