Suffian FJ:

The plaintiff (respondent) is a moneylender in Klang. The first and second defendants were partners in a firm, Universal Car Agency at 22 Rembau Street, Klang. (They are not concerned with this appeal.) The third defendant is a housewife and the fourth defendant is an associate in a firm, Tai Wah & Co. at 13, Batu Tiga Road, Klang. (They are the appellants in this appeal.)

On 2 November 1957 the plaintiff entered into a written agreement with the first and second defendants to purchase for $30,000 the land in question upon which a house was being constructed (held under Selangor Grant for Land No. 13107 for Lot 404, s. 24 in the Town of Klang). The land was subject to a charge of $15,000 in favour of the Malaya Borneo Building Society. The plaintiff paid the first and second defendants $15,000 towards the purchase price. In January 1958 on hearing that the first and second defendants were in financial difficulties the plaintiff went to look for them in their shop but in vain, though he called there twice a day from 13 to 17 January.

After the 18th he noticed that the stock-in-trade in the shop was diminishing. The plaintiff then went to Kuala Lumpur to see th