600 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



paid him £10, as the first instalment, but that nothing had 

 been paid since. It took him two months to make the first 

 trial cut, and nine months to make eleven cuts. That he had 

 eleven saws at work at one time by steam-power, ten to four- 

 teen hours a day. When the work was finished, and after 

 much talk with Te Harawira and his friends, a compromise 

 was offered of £100 to be paid to him, together with half of 

 the greenstone, and to this he agreed ; but, after long waiting, 

 no money was forthcoming. He had also offered to take the 

 stone (slabs) as payment for his heavy labour, but this was 

 refused. 



Mr. Cooper, a watchmaker and jeweller of Napier, stated 

 that he was acquainted with similar work — the cutting-up of 

 greenstones — and Is. per square inch was the usual charge ; 

 and, speaking from memory, those cut slabs of greenstone 

 would each average about 24in. x 15in. 



Te Harawira (the defendant), in his evidence, stated posi- 

 tively that no final agreement as to price had ever been 

 arranged, and that the charge for cutting was far too high. 



Mr. Lee, for defendant, held that no contract had ever 

 been made, and that the charge was excessive. 



The Judge took time to consider his sentence, and on the 

 next day judgment was given for £150, and costs £14 3s.* 



No money being forthcoming, in the following month 

 (March) the bailiff took possession of the greenstone, under 

 execution warrant of distress, and duly advertised for sale by 

 auction on the 14th, at noon, "12 slabs greenstone; average 

 weight 251b. each."! 



I happened to be in town on that day, and in passing by 

 the auction-mart, and seeing some acquaintances standing at 

 the entrance, I went up to speak with them, and then, for the 

 first time, saw the said twelve slabs of greenstone inside on a 

 table. So I went in; and soon after the sale began, when I 

 purchased five slabs, and should have bought more had not 

 my acquaintances expressed their wishes to get some also. 

 The whole lot only realized £20 10s. j 



* Hawke's Bay Herald, 20th and 21st February, 1883. 

 t Daily Telegraph, 13th March, 1883. 



J Account Sales, Twelve Greenstones. 



The slabs purchased by me are marked with a star 



