Shanghai, 11th October. Before R. A. Mowar, Esg., Deputy Chief Fudge, a0 Messrs, W, B. Cuatarers, J. Watrer, J, Suane, 0. J. Saony, and R. Law, Jurors, Toxo Foo Hoxe v. E. H, Lazarus.
Mr. Drusnxoxp appeared for the plaintiffs, Mr. Warsewatonr appeared for the defendant.
This is an action to recover Tls. 3,282 for goods sold and delivered.
Mr. Davaacoxn, in opening the case, commenced by reading the pleadings, The petition was as follows '1—The plaintiffs are Chinese subjects and merchant Shanghai aforesaid. basses TEs yea minaen
sold to the defendant, through John Behan Walker, 4 ces oat anpans anna fle og len Sok gausem ie feed alton pat oran the saldetraw braid were delivered to the defendant, ell ba word net ote Toor anlstenre names aula a Ta wean a eects overt og, lie arts mohr ta Bee era ry te coat par pombe G hen ogee fogerty ro ade In reply to the above petition, Mr. Warse-rica, on bebelf of the defendant, filed the following answer 1.—Tho defendant admira the truth of the allegations, contained in the int and second paragraphs of the tion, the defendant says that on the tistecath of the 2 With reference tothe third paragraph of the patio Dreént mouth ho did porce for himeelf and: his Partner in trade sixty-styca bales of straw braid atthe elon of Sitytwo twa por pic but he ai that he Parchosed the avid braid from John oban Walker mone Eoned in the petition, who mer-sevtal hinnelf fo be and was believed by him, the defendant, to be the owner thereof, and that he, the defendant, never heard and did not know that avy person other' than the said Join Rohan Walker was interested. in the said braid until after such braid hed been delivered to the defendant fand shipped by him. "At the time of the said purchase which payment of the said John talker, the said John Mekan Walker was indebted him and his partners in trade in the sum of one thousand even hundred and forty-four taels, being the amount of the difference between the net proceeds of certain kins shipped by the defondsnt for and at the risk of the said John Mehan Walker, and the amount which the defendant had previous ¢o such shipment advanced to thos aid John Mehan, Walker thereon by reason whetcot by the defendant and his partners in ohn Mebian Walker upon the result of sum ofono thousand five hundred and thirty-eight taels even mace six eandereens and no more, Statement of account showing the said talanco was delivered to the taid John Meban Walker on the seventeenth of the pre-tent tion th, and the defendant thea and site has offered {to pay the said balance to the said John Behan Walker, bat the said John Afehan Walker ins declined to accept the same.
'6.—The defendant now paso into Court the said sum of one thousand five In ough to satiny the owners ofthe said braid, Mr. Devanroxp then went on to aay that jon and answer placed before and the Jury the main features of imply that of straw The sale was effected through a broker named Walker; the braid was delivered, examined and accepted by the defendant, and promptly shipped by him on board the French mail steamer, and the next day he (defendant) refused to pay for it. Defendant admitted purchasing 67 bales of straw braid at the price stated by the plaintiffs, and that he shipped it away. With ment, defen from' the plainti n Walker, the broker, who told him that he was the owner of the braid and he believed him; he had an old account with Walker who owed him Tls. 1,744, and he claimed to set off that amount against the price of the straw braid. He did not think he could make it clearer than that, and those few words set forth the whole facts of the cave. He must add, however, that defendant tendered Walker a cheque for the balance, after deducting the Tls. 1.744, of Tls. 1,583, which was refased by Walker, and defendant subsequently paid into Court. The contention was whether the defendant could set off his claim of Tls. 1.744 5 and it was contention in which both questions of law and fact were involved. TheJury would decide on the Seota aah the, case, and his Lordship woul dispose of the legal points; but Jaw and facts combined, the simple issue was —Can the defendant set off his old debt of Tls. 1,744 against the plaintifis claim. Ho would first dispose of a matter, which no doubt they would hear a great deal about before the case was finished, and it might be well to prepare the minds of the Jury as to That was to come. The old debt. of Tls. 1,744 arose out-of a transaction between the defendant and Walker last year. Defendant shipped home, on account of Walker, number of deer and advanced Tls. 1,450 upon thew there were other existing adjes. Defendant took them home to hia own firm to sell, and the transaction was to be altogether on account of Walker or of Walker and Company. The deer skins were sold at home by defendant's firm, and account sales arrived in Shanghai between the 4th and 5th of September, and it was upon them that defendant based his claim of Tls. 1,744. In the meantime certain things letters passed between the defendant and his firm and Welker, and Walker was asked to give a margin, information hat ing been received that there would be a loss, and Walker was also informed, according to the defendant, that ho would have to pay theless when the account sales arrived, Defendant had been to Chefoo, and found the account sales awaiting him on his retura, and they showed the loss of Tis, 1,744." 'The first thing it might reasonably be expected the defendant would do under such cireumstances would have been, he presumed, for him to ask Walker to' pay the amount, but nothing of that sort was done, The account sales were kept quiet, nob a word was said atour them by the defendant to Walker; no communications passed between them, and Walker was not ocked to pay the money he owed. But defendant was going to return to England, and about the IGth September last, ho advertised that he was about to leave, and asked that all claime against him might be sent in by the 18th and ho took his passage by the French mail leaving at the end of the week. Still not a word was said by the defendant to Walker about his debt; but defendant appeared to have made up his mind to carry out a little plot. the evidence, ho thought, would show that it was clear to the defendant's mind that it was no use asking Walker for any money, and in consequence lo cast about him' for the best way to make good his bad debt, Defendant seemed to have come to the conclusion that if he could get Walker to place in his possession, by hook or by crook, property belonging to somebody else, and get Walker to call himself the principal in the transaction, he could make Zool his debt. Not duly did he think it well to get the goods entirely into his possess placed m his godown—but he t them to the French mail steamer, whi were out of the reach of their real own and when the time for payment came defen ant imagined he could owners bought the goods from Walker, not from you; I haveaclaim against Walker and am ad: outline of the facts of the case, and he would now suggest to them, (the jury) a few questions which would enable them to see what their verdict in effect would amount to. The questions he should suggest, whether they were in accordance with what his Lordship hem or not, would, if they their minds, assist them The questions the real owner of th defendant? 2ud, did the plaintiffs ents Walker with the possession of, or the ind of, the property in the goods? 3rd, did Wal make defendantbelievethiat the goodsbelouged tohim? 4th, did the defendant bel that the goods belonged to Walker? These four questions, he thought, exhausted the whole facts, and his contention was that the deer skin transaction had nothing whatever to do with the case, It was imported into it by the defendant, and his whole defence rested upon it, but he (Mr. Drummond) failed to see how it in the least affected the straw braid transaction, The deer skin affair was between Walker and the defendant, and the Jury were not summoned to decide when ther Walker should pay the loss incurred of Tls. 1,744; and the less consideration they gave to the matter the more clearly,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.