Pacific Charger motion in Court

Press, 23 June 1981, Page 2

Pacific Charger motion in Court

PA ■ Wellington A motion to set aside court orders made in the Admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court against the owners of the Pacific Charger is expected to be heard in the Court on Thursday. Fourteen owners of cargo in the vessel,,, which ran aground at Baring Head early on May: 21, recently filed a writ against the ship's owners claiming $7 million for damage to cargo. .Last week in chambers, Mr Justice Quilliam made orders ex parte in favour of the plaintiffs to issue subpoenas to members of the ship’s crew to give evidence before the Court Registrar, placing the: ship’s documents in the custody of the Court, and

giving the plaintiffs the right to have a surveyor board the ship for inspection. The owners of the ship have now filed a motion, which will be heard in open court, setting aside those orders. The documents in the custody of the Court are the ship's bridge log, the engineroom log, bell books, the master’s night-order book, the sounding book, the com-pass-error book, charts in use on May 20 and 21, the radio log, radio and radar reports, and the maintenance log. The order granting inspection covers all parts of the ship, including navigational equipment and aids and emergency equipment. The plaintiffs are General Motors (N.Z.), Ltd, Fletcher Concrete, Ltd, Fletcher Industries, Ltd, Kanieri Gold Dredging, Ltd, Stewart Steel, Ltd, Cable Priqe Steel, Ltd, Mace Engineering, Ltd, Steel and Tube (N.Z.), Ltd, Todd Motors, Ltd, John Burns and Company, Ltd, Toyota (N.Z.), Ltd, Mitzui and Company (N.Z.), Ltd, Kanematsu Gosho (N.Z.), Ltd. and Mazda Motors (N.Z.), Ltd.