Claim for Breach of Contract 'An action to recover damages arising out of an uncompleted mortgage transaction was heard in H. M. Supreme Court on Monday before his Honour Judge Skinner Turner. 'The plaintiff was H. Chai, and the defendants the West End' Estates Ld, and the circumstances of the case as set out the statement of claim were as follows On February 12 last, plaintiff offered to Jend the defendant company the sum of Tls. 55,000, at interest at the rate of Tis, 16 per mille per lunar month. This offer was, on the 19th of the same month, accepted on behalf of the defendants by Mr. H. M. Cumine, their representative, and a director, repayment. being agreed upon as follows: Tls, 10,000 at the end of the first year, Tls. 25,000 at the end of the second year, and the balance of Tis, 20,000 at the end of the third year. Inthe course of negotiations, Mr. Cumine repeated-stated to plaintiff that the: rentals from the property would be' sufficient to cover the interest on the loan, and that he would furnish plaintiff with a list of houses on the property and with parti lars of the rentals.
These particulars were not furnished, and defendants refused to carry out the contract. Plaintiff, by letter dated March 19, notified defendants of his willingness and readiness to complete the matter according to defendants' letter of acceptance, but defendants wholly declined to act.
Accordingly, plaintiff claimed Tls. 16,527.50, the difference in interest between the contract rate and the rate, allowed to plaintiff on Tis, 55,000 by his bankers.
In their statement of defence, defendants admitted the negotiations with plaintiff for a mortgage on the property, but contended that these negotiations were never hi completed, defendants having, ina letter dated February 19 (the day on which he received defendants acceptance) introduced a fresh' condition into the agreement, to which condition defendants could not accede. This new proposal made by plaintiff was, that if the interest was not covered by rental, the amount of the loan should be Proportionately decreased. The estimated value of the security offered to plaintiff was Tls. 85,000.
The defendants urged that the usual rate of interest on property this nature in Shanghai is not more than 8 per cent. The defendants further stated that plaintiff was well aware at the time of the negotiations that the money} was urgently required for the pur-Pose of paying off an existing mortgage, and owing to the tightness of the money market at or about Chinese New Year en.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.