COLLISION IN RIVER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 50, 28 February 1940, Page 14

COLLISION IN RIVER.

LAUNCH OWNER'S CLAIM.

JUDGMENT AGAINST CROWN. (From Onr Own Correspondent.) PAEROA, Tuesday. j Judgment against the Crown was delivered by Mr. W. H. Freeman, S.M., in the Paeroa Court following a protracted civil action in which R. E. Farrow, farmer of Waitoa, claimed £44 17/7 for damages to his launch as the result of a collision with a Public Works Department barge moored at the Paeroa wharf, Waihou River, at 1 a.m. last Easter Monday. After mentioning that he had discussed the case with his brother magistrates in Hamilton, Mr. Freeman said that he could not agree that the case could not be brought in the Ma gist rate's Court. Furthermore, the Crown had consented lo the hearing. Nor could he agree that tlie plaintiff had no right to proceed up the left-hand eide of the river according to the Rules of Navigation. He was entitled to use the best channel, and the Department's barge, which was moored abreast of a launch and another barge, was a hidden danger on the river, for neither the vessels nor: the wharf were lighted. There might be a statutory right for the barges to be moored where they were but they should not have been moored bo that they wfere a danger to anyone, using the highway. No negJigence had teen proved to show that plaintiff was not entitled to the damages claimed. \y^i' : ' r {^ ''- '■ ' SP ■ if. the Crown, asked for security. J» appeal acd tipe appUoation was granted..;: .-7;' ;