LORDS MAY DECIDE CASE IMPORTANT TO SHIPPERS

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28009, 2 July 1956, Page 10

LORDS MAY DECIDE CASE IMPORTANT TO SHIPPERS

LONDON LETTER

[From

KEITH EUNSON,

London Correspondent of “The Press**)

London. June 23—Last autumn a firm of timber merchants brought a case against a shipping company because a parcel of its timber with a bill of lading for London and Hull was discharged during the dock strike of 1954 at Hamburg. The shipowners claimed it was a proper discharge in accordance with the terms of the bill of lading. In a judgement delivered by Mr Justice McNair last October it was stated that in these circumstances delivery at Hamburg, which was claimed to be due fulfilment of the contract, was “inconsistent and repugnant to the primary and unqualified terms to deliver at London.” Judgment was given for the timber merchants, but the shipowners took the case to appeal and won it. Now the timber merchants are taking the case to the House of Lords. Its particular interest to New Zealand, and other Dominions, is that meat has been affected on numerous occasions in the .same way. During the strike last year shipments of New Zealand meat were dumped at Hamburg, though they had a bill of lading to London. The shippers were told that the liability of the shipping companies had been discharged. One meat importer told me that several New Zealand ships had been diverted in this way during 1955 and his company way had been put to the extra expense of trans-shipping the meat to Britain or trying to sell it on the Continent.

Shipping companies had held this right as long as he could remember, and it had been thought at the time that there would be little chance of winning a case in the courts against them. The judgment of the House of Lords would be of tremendous interest to companies shipping New Zealand meat and other produce. Reprieved

H.M.S. Amethyst, which leaped into world headlines in 1949 after escaping down the Yangtse River from Chinese Communists, has been from the breakers’ yards because Herbert Wilcox is to make a film of her exploit. The Amethyst has for some time been cocooned in Devonport, and her guns were on the point of being dismantled when Admiralty orders stayed the operation. The frigate will be towed to the location site for film shooting and this work will be conducted by Commander John Kerans, D. 5.0.. R.N.. who was in command of the Amethyst at the time of the Yangtse River exploit. He has also been seconded by the Admiralty to act as technical adviser for the film, “Yangtse Incident.” His part in the action will be played by Richard Todd. Place at the top When Dame Enid Russell-Smith takes up her new post as deputysecretary to the Ministry of Health in November, her salary will jump from £2475 a year to £4250. She will receive a salary equal to that of her male colleagues. Aged 53, Dame Enid Russell-Smith joined the Ministry in 1925; the first year that women were allowed to take the competitive examination for the administrative class of the Civil Service. About this time she also took up judo, and she is now a senioi- woman judo expert in Europe. She is a “black belt of the third Dan," and has been a member of the Kensington Budokwai Judo Club for more than 20 years. For New Zealand

The stage and film actress, Dulcie Gray, is leaving next month for a tour of Australia and New Zealand witn the American play, “Tea and Sympathy,” which the Lord Chamberlain has decreed cannot be seen by audiences in the United Kingdom. Her actor husband, Michael Denison, will not be with her in Australia, but hopes to fly out to New Zealand towards the end of the year to join her there.

Fugitive From Cricket Lunch-time is always the highlight of the annual cricket match between the National Book League and the Authors. “We don’t just feed the lions, we feed with the lions.” said Sir William Haley, president of the National Book League, looking disarmingly round an Author's team that consisted almost entirely of former Test players, including that Mr Hutton whom we may not yet address as “Sir Len." The other lions beamed appreciatively as a strictly non-cricketing Peter Ustinov rose, inadequately disguised behind a large beard. Mr Ustinov does not understand cricket, he hastened to tell us, and he thinks it very dangerous. “If a few more people get injured,’’ he added hopefully, “it will doubtless act as a magnet to Dr. Summerskill, who will write a book about it.” As a boy on the playing fields of Westminster (where we now sat) he had resorted to desperate strategies to

avoid the game and had even preferred rowing—except, perhaps, on the occasion he had succeeded in sinking the Westminster boat in a race against St. Paul’s eight. The saga of M r Ustinovs attempts to avoid any form of athleticism reduced every lion to tears, ready to accept with purrs of pleasure a final tribute from "one who must be a species as rare as a coelacanth —neither a Gentleman nor a Player.” Doctor to the Islands A feature. “Doctor to the Islands.” dealing with the work of Dr. Torn Davis in the South Pacific after the war. is to be broadcast by the 8.8. C. next month. It describes social, and economic conditions, the’ restless political situation, and the everyday life of the Davis family against a background of authentic Polynesian music. Former Aucklanders. Dr. Tom and Lydia Davis, captured the imagination of newspapers all over the world by sailing from New Zealand to the United States with their two small children in the yacht Miru in 1952. Unfair to Burglars The selection of burglar alarms on show at the Institution of Civil Engineers this week is enough to drive the modern Raffles to suicide. These are devices used by the Ministry of Works to guard valuable property, which they do with fiendish One has a supersonic transmitter which sends out a pattern of sound waves throughout the protected area. Any movement by an intruder immediately sets off an alarm by upsetting a supersonic detector. Another uses an infra-red beam which, when broken, gives the alarm. But this is old-fashioned stuff com.pared with the air pressure device. This is used in a sealed room where m small, delicate fan keeps the air pressure slightly above normal. The opening of any window or door immediately lowers the pressure, and the sensitive instrument recording it shouts for help through an alarm circuit. The burglar, of course, has no union to protect him from the results of automation. No Room at the Inns London is bulging with tourists trying to get hotel accommodation. Some have had to go as far afield as Croydon or Brighton to find suitable rooms, and the position will get even worse as the "season” progresses. West End hotels have been doing their best to meet the need with extensions and additions, but building has failed to keep up with demand. The Dorchester is soon to open three new suites built on the hotel roof: Grosvenor House has just demolished a Georgian building to make room for a large extension; the American Westbury in Bond street will soon open another wing; plans are being drawn to enlarge the Washington; and the Tavistock, in Bloomsbury, is doubling its size. Discussions have been held about building an entirely new hotel of 32 storeys on a bombed site in Portman square, but this could not be completed before 1960.

Lord Beaverbrook’s Empire-crusad-ing “Daily Express” has been caught without an answer. A fortnight ago, in commenting on negotiations to sell the Trinidad Oil Company, the "Express” declared: “If Mr Macmillan consents to the sale of this Imperial asset. . . it is curtains for the Tory Party. The ’Daily Express,’ for its part, would never accept this dreadful act of dismemberment of the British Empire.” Mr Macmillan now has consented to the oil deal. The “Daily Express” has yet to find its answer, but many are ready to wager that it will come in the form of withdrawal of support for Sir Anthony Eden. Never an Eden fan. Lord Beaverbrook, caused some surprise by supporting him through thick and thin when his stocks as Prime Minister were at their lowest. The "Express” will probably go back to its former tactics (when Eden was Foreign Secretary) of needling him at every opportunity. Newspaper Stunts The “Daily Sketch," the fastestgrowing popular newspaper in London, is building its circulation on the old foundation of stunls. It recently offered as a prize a horse. Affiliation Order, entered for the Derby with Lester Piggott engaged as jockey. Next came a trip to Africa with two explorer-photographers. then the chance of winning a country pub. and now the “Sketch" is offering "£lO s week for life.” I am reliably informed that the latter offer raised circulation 250,000 in one day. Top and Bottom Two Huttons were working at Lord’s when the Australians and the M.C.C. fought out the second test. Mr Len Hutton, soon to be Sir Len. was in the press box recording his impression of the match for a national newspaper, while 16-year-old Thomas Hutton, recently taken on the ground staff, sold programmes. Though no relation, young Thomas is as eager to get on as his famous namesake once was. He is a bowler, medium pace, and will be on the M.C.C. staff for three years. If he makes the grade he may be offered professional papers by Middlesex. Noble or Ignoble

Dr. Edith Summerskill and Mr Louis Golding fought two rounds of a promising contest at a literary luncheon this week to mark the publication of her book on the "Ignoble Art.” Mr Golding, in the chair, thought that boxing was noble (he also had written a book about it) and that boxers were far gentler than female politicians. Dr. Edith Summerskill thought boxing ignoble, a monstrous stimulant to the aggressive instincts of man. and a sport that any good feminist would be bound to join her in condemning. She fought a good fight for her cause and was generally considered to have won a points decision