SENT TO PRISON.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 246, 17 October 1929, Page 9

SENT TO PRISON.

NINETEEN OF TRAMP'S CREW, COMBINED TO IMPEDE VOYAGE COMPLAINTS OF BAD FOOD. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent) '. CHRISTCHURCH, Wednesday. Nineteen members- of the crew of the tramp steamer : Lawbeath—.ten whites and nine Indians —were to-day sentenced to'-one month's hard labour for having combined on October 9 to impede the progresis of, the voyage. For. the prosecution it was stated that the- Lawbeatfh reached Lyttelton on October 5. En route from London she called at-Nauru Island and loaded phosphate. ,Ojv October 9, at Lyttelton, a number.of, the crew called on the captain and , eaid they would not take the ship to <sea again ■"unless they were paid New Zealand rates of pay. They also asked to bo provided with straw mattresses. All tie requests were agreed to. The men evidently realised that what they were asking the captain was illegal- for they asked 4 he captain for a_ letter exonerating them from , proceedings in London. They were told that this could not be. done. The men then made a demand that they should be paid at Lyttelton or. at Port Chalmers. This could not 'be' agreed- to because there was the possibility of the men not returning to t-he. ship.

Captain ' Donald Alan Macfadyen, master of the I/awfoeath, was' crossexamined by Mr. .W. J. Hunter, counsel for the-seamen. He denied that at Honolulu ihe had taken on dry food- to last three; months. 'Hβ had ; given the men fresh meat at Honolulu. It was not true that;there was a:shortage of oatmeal and-butter. .The stock of potatoes went bad,/but there was no 6'hortage of coffee. •They were, ehort. of butter for oiie day. and .short of sugar for two days ■•. The captain denied that the men were practically starved, and that the 'hospital on the ship was a ;dirty, insanitary cabin,"' btit. admitted that there were some,'ijugs" on board, and he did not suppose/ that/fumigating -would, do- tlio : ye6sel'iany ; 'iliarm.'

Mr. Hunter asserted that' conditions on t'lie ship were a dkgrace. The; men, when they arrived at Lyttelton had a right to raise a, complaint. They were, led to believe that Nauru was a New Zealand mandated territory, and' 'that they had also a rig>ht to demand New Zealand rates of pay while trading .between that island and New Zealand. On this unsound advice they, made their request to the captain. There was no suggestion of deliberately combining or conspiring to hold up the progress of the voyage. , <