WILTSHIRE INQUIRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 143, 19 June 1922, Page 5

WILTSHIRE INQUIRY.

—■ - ■»■ ■ ■■■ — —— jj THE NAVIGATION QUESTION. NOT A DEAD RECKONING. VITAL EVIDENCE HINTED AT. The inquiry into the circumstances connected with the wreck of the Wiltshire was commenced at the Magistrate's Court this morning before Mr. E. C. Cutten, S.M., with Captain E. C. Fleming and Captain W. ReeJ as assessors. Mr. Sclwyn Mays appeared for the Minister of Marine, Mr. R. D. Bagnall for the owners of the steamer, the Federal Steam Navigation Company, and Mr. V. R. Meredith for Captain Hayward, master of the vessel. ADJOURNMENT ASKED FOR. Mr. Mays stated that the only person cited was the master, and the questions were the usual Board of Trade questions , as to navigation. No preliminary inquiry was held in regard to this matter. Consequently they were dependent almost entirely on information contained in the casualty report as to the finding. There were three witnesses, however, who could throw a good deal of light on the navigation aspect and a certain important question of fact. By a singular mischance all those three persons were weather-bound on the East Coast. One I might possibly arrive in Auckland this afternoon and the other two to-morrow. Obviously the responsibility thrown on th 3 master in thi3 inquiry was very grays, and it was counsel's desire, and it was only just, that the Department's ! case in chief should be placed before thecourt before the master was called upon to answer anything. It was quite conceivable that the court could make a certain amount of progress to-day and call those witnesses at a later stage, but he put it to the court with a full sense of his responsibility that that course should not ' be adopted. "I desire," said counsel, "that the whole of the as we know ' it. beginning from a very limited amount of information, should be put before the court before the moster gives evidence. For that reason I wo" Id ask for an adjournment at least till to-morrow. SOME IMPORTANT EVIDENCE. "A good deal of misconception has to be cleared away," added counsel, "becnuse it was commonly supposed thi-t the ship had run for a couple of days at lenst on dead reckoning. The master's casualty return removed that altogether because he tells us that he ascertained his position at midday on May 31 for lomritude and at 8 a.m. for latitude, and was able to fix his Position on the day , of the casualty. That fact, if it be a fact, changes the position from a navigation point of view. Hence we have had at the last moment to "et the best i evidence available to establish or refute certain -ossibilities ansin? from the fact that he had ascertained his posit'on Hstronomicnllv. 114 IIOU'R before the casualty. There is over £750 000 -worth of ship nnd carco involved ond 102 lives, licswles his own. were leopardispj. Conseouentlv the responsibility of the captain is a very serious one." TAKEN BY SURPRISE. Mr. Meredith stated that he was absolutely taken by surprise by the application for an adjournment, "of which he had heard just before coming into court. He thought he was entitled to know who the witnesses were that Mr. Mays proposed to call and for what purpose Mr. Mays proposed calling them. He had not been given that information. Cap-1 tain Hayward had been asked for a ' casualty return and had put the whole <»f the facts into that report, which had been in the hands of the depart- I I ment for a considerable time. Having disclosed everything he knew he was. now faced with an adjournment and the ' calling of evidence the purport of which I was not disclosed. It meant that there j would be no opportunity for him to go j into the matter when their evidence was given, because his witnesses were sea- j' faring men who might probably be away on other ships. Intention of this might I have been given to him some time ago. | Counsel thought that it was distinctly unfair that Captain Hayward, who had ' undergone considerable privations and suffered a heavy strain, should have thi rt further hurden imposed on him. j "We don't wish to hide anything," added counsel, "and are prepared to | face any evidence that can be brought, ! but at least we are entitled to know who the witnesses are and the purport of their evidence. My friend must have known whom he was going to call and for what purpose. Even in a criminal case a man knows what he has to face, and surely w P are not going to lie put in a worse position, i ask that the court direct that we be given the names of those witnesses and the purpose for which they are going to be called." His friend had referred, said counsel, to the value of the ship and to the responsibility of the captain, but the speaker contended that this had no bearing on the case as it was common to every such inquiry. It merely arose incidentals from the fact that Captain Hayward had risen to eminence in hi s profession, having spent over a quarter of a cenf.urv in the service on larsre ships and cone through the whole of the war | period without an accident. The fact j that it was a large chip made the responsibility no greater than if it had been a small one. • j EVIDENCE NOT DISCLOSED. I Mr. Mays stated that there was no ! precedent for giving the information for which his friend had asked. It never ! had been done in his 20 years' experijcnce, and he thought never would be His friend was not entitled to know j what ease the Crown was setting up. It was an inquiry to put before the court a report from the master true ori untrue, together with such other evi-' dence as the department thought would I assist the court in arriving at the con-1 ditions existing at the time of the , casualty. As a matter of face the masters casualty report did not disclose that he had obtained an astronomical , eight on May 31, although when he was asked if he had come in 'on dead reckoning he quite frankly stated that he obtained the sight, and the information was written on the paper. Mr. Cutten, S.M.: That won't alter the facts in the case. Mr. Mays: I have three, witnesses on a vital point who are physically unib'e to tret here to-day, and T desire to put their evidence in front of Captain Havward before he. is called upon to answer anything. I think that is fair and proper, i Mr. Meredith: I ask what the evidence : is to be. Mr. Mays: I am not bound to eive it i and T am" not going to. r'ntil the. wit- ' nesses have given their evidence I can't tell you what yofrjhave t° f ace -

ADJOURNED TILL TO-MORROW. Mr. Cutten, S.M.: I am not going to decide any question between you two gentlemen. All we ha%e to do is to iind the cause of the casualty. What I want to know is why we cannot proceed a certain distance to-day. Mr. Mays: I cannot go on because I want to see one of the witnesses on the very foundation if certain aspects of our case. Mr. Cutten, S.M.: What arc you asking? Mr. Mays: For an adjournment until to-morrow. It is just possible that one or other of the witnesses may be here then. Mr. Meredith stated that he wished to make it clear that he had no objection whatever to any adjournment. He desired only to know what he had to face. As a matter of fact an adjournment would probably suit him as it might enable him to get some of the officers' books which were on the ship. An endeavour had been made yesterday to get them off, but the weather bad been too rough fo r the launch to get alongside. It was possible they might be obtained by Wednesday. Mr. Cutten, S.M., remarked that the court was anxious to get on with the inquiry now that it had embarked on it, and he adjourned the inquiry till tomorrow morning. ' —.