Lord Thankerton—

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.

On 30th 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.

Certain facts as to which there is no dispute may be conveniently set out. On 1st 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 26th 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 25th February 1924, the tender form being dated 26th February 1924, on the latter date the respondent went to Colombo and deposited the tender form.

The respondent's tender was accepted by the Crown on 22nd March 1924, and he was requested to attend at the Divisional Forest Office at Ratnapura, together with his sureties, on 2nd April 1924, for the purpose of executing the necessary bond on his lease, and to bring a sum of Rs. 50 being security on his lease, and Rs. 1,206, being annual rent for the first year in advance. On the morning of 2nd April 1924, the respondent attended as requested at the Divisional Forest Office at Ratnapnra, and paid the sum of Rs. 1,256 by a cheque drawn by a Chetty in Colombo, from whom the respondent had obtained it the previous day at Colombo. Subsequently, on 5th May 1924, the formal lease by the Crown in favour of the respondent was executed, and the respondent entered upon and worked the land. It was provided by the lease that the lessee's obligations and rights thereunder should not be assigned or otherwise transferred or sublet without the consent of the Tender Board, previously obtained in writing.

Further it was not in dispute that on 2nd April 1924, the respondent saw the appellant at his house in Ratnapura, and that the latter paid him in cash a sum of Rs. 638 (being one half of the first year's rent, the deposit of Rs. 50 and the cost of the