ARTHUR WIJETILAKA Vs. DON EDMUND RANASINGHE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from a judgment and order of the Supreme Court of the Island of Ceylon dated 30th April 1929, reversing a judgment and order of the Judge of the District Court of Ratnapura, dated 25th February 1928. No appearance was made in this appeal by the respondent and the appeal was heard ex parte. The appellant is a proctor in the Supreme Court, and has been practising in the District Court of Ratnapura for over twenty years, and the respondent is a landowner near Rakwana, a place to which the Police Court of Ratnapura itinerates.

(2.) cOn 30 September 1920, the appellant instituted the present suit against the respondent in the District Court of Ratnapura, claiming a declaration that the respondent is a trustee for him in respect of a half share of a leasehold interest in certain Crown land known as the Miyanaowita Tea Estate, and an account of the net income of the land and payment of a half share of such income; he further claimed that the respondent should be ordered to execute an absolute conveyance and assignment of a half share of the leasehold or, alternatively, an assignment of such half share as between himself and the respondent. The District Judge, after trial, made a decree in terms of the reliefs sought by the appellant, but this decree was reversed on appeal to the Supreme Court, and the suit was dismissed. The appellant appeals from the decree of the Supreme Court, and asks that the decree of the District Judge should be restored, but only in so far as it grants a declaration that the respondent is a trustee for him in respect of one half of the leasehold rights, as the respondent's financial position renders any further relief fruitless and the appellant's main interest now lies in the question of his credibility as a witness, as the decision of the case turns on the opposite and irreconcilable evidence given by him and the respondent.

(3.) Certain facts as to which there is no dispute may be conveniently set out. On 1 February 1924, a notice calling for tenders for a 10-year lease of the right to collect tea seeds on the Miyanao wita Estate appeared in the Ceylon Government Gazette ; the tenders were to be lodged, along with a deposit of Rs. 50, with the Controller of Revenue in Colombo not later than midday on 26 February 1924. The respondent obtained a tender form, for which he paid Rs. 20, and obtained the signature of the two necessary sureties. The tender form was thereafter filled up by the appellant in the name of the respondent alone, and signed by the respondent at a meeting between them, most probably on 25 February 1924, the tender form being dated 26 February 1924, on the latter date the respondent went to Colombo and deposited the tender form.