CLAIM FOR DAMAGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 15

CLAIM FOR DAMAGES.

BOLTS IN A CONDENSER. ACTION AGAINST ENGINEERING FIRM. (By Telegraph.—-Special to "Star.") CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. An engineering case heard in the | Supreme Court to-day* bore some analogy to certain recent actions against surgeons who were alleged to have left "swabs" in the bodies of ; patients on whom they had operated. , The allegation in this case was that I an engineering firm, in tho course of | repairs to a steamer's condenser left I two bolts and a nut loose inside, and thereby caused them to drop down the outlet pipe into the air pump, which' was severely damaged as a result. The i case was heard by his Honor Mr. Justice j Adams and a special jury of four. The plaintiff was the Opua Shipping Co., | Ltd., of Christchurch (owners of the, steamer Opua I, and the defendant was Andersons, Ltd., engineers, of Christchurch and Lyttelton. The plaintiff claimed £266 4/ damages. It was alleged that when the vessel was about to leave Wellington for Nelson on April 13 something fouled the air pump attached to the starboard condenser, and the vessel was unable to leave port ! until temporary repairs had been made by J. J. Niven and Co., Ltd. In the! __ir pump were found two gin bolts and a nut of the same gauge. Complete repairs to the pump, which, was badly damaged, cost £103 14/, and the vessel was out of use for three days and six hours, representing a loss of £162 10/ in earnings. The defendant company, -aid counsel for plaintiff, had asserted that no contract for the repairs was entered into, that the work was done Under the supervision of the ship's engineers, and that it had relinquished control of the workmen. The evidence for the plaintiff would be that such control was never relinquished. It was submitted that the defendant company had held out its workmen as skilled and competent, and that it must be held responsible for their negligence. The case is proceeding.