MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 107, 29 January 1908, Page 5

MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

■ (Beforo' Mr. W. G/ 'Riddollj - • A SHIPPING CASE.' . TRANSFER OF A. LINER'S; FIREMEN. A case of interest to one in ' which Glias. H. Kompson, .'master of .steamer A|henic,-was charged, with. having, on failed to .givo .to a certain, aoanian discharged from his.ship a certificate, of discharge as required by the Shipping and. Scamon's , Act : .'i9o3V A second; information charged, tho samo defendant .with failing .tq discharge certain: seamen in"-the presence of, ihev Superintendent of Mercantile Marine in : tlio mannor provided by the-Shipping and Seamen's Act 1903. Pleas, of '-Not guilty' were entered oil both charges. •. Air. Myers appeared for tho Superintendent of Mercantile: Marine, who prosecuted, and Mr. Gray for defendant. Mr. Myers stated. that' boitli v.pfe laid under Sections! .55 and''<s6 .of,- tlio' Shipping and' Seamenls Act. Defendant.was master of :tlio'White Star steamer Athenic,a'' British foreign-going ship registered.' out • of' Now Zealand. Another ship, the lonic, a vessel of similar class to the Athenic, owned by-the same, company, was in port at the time the Athenic was here, and. was short (if a crew wjien about to" sail for London.- \ Meft were, required before the lonic could leave port, and an effort had been made. to get men, but these men were asking comparatively , high, sunis—nearly' £30—for .'the voyage Home, much in' excess, of the rate ~~if the men signed, on anywhere else. The Athenic was not timed to leavo Now Zealand until some timo after the lonic, and five of . the firemen and trimmers from the Athenic were transferred to the lonic without any compliance with tho soction of the Act'. Counsel argued that an offence had been committed under ,each of tlio two sec-; tions quoted, but tho Department was not seeking so much for a heavy penalty as to show that men could not be transferred ' from one boat -to • another • without going ' before the 1 Superintendent 'of Mercantile /Marine. ' The transfer,' counsel' contended, necessarily involved a discharge from the Athenic, and an entry on the articles of the lonic. .There, could bo no oxen so that tlio Government Shipping Officer was not there for the; piirpose"of doing his duty, as the Marino Superintendent /of, .the steamers; ,in question, actually arranged with tho Superintendent of Mercantile Marino to keep liis office'opeii. specially.' This request was agreed to. \Tho : reason given .afterwards, for • not attending at the! omce of the Shipping Master' was that, if, the ;men' who • were being transferred from one-vessel to'the other had been taken to the office of tho Superintendent they might have been intercepted by other seamen, who were standing out for higher terms, and might have refused to sign on to < tho Athenic/ Captailt G. G.' Smith, Superintendent of Mercantile Marinoj deposed that the- lonic and Athenic wore in port at the same time. On January 3, Captain Evans, Marino Superintendent of tlio j Shaw, Savill Company, owners of the vessels, asked witness to keep his office open for .the purpose of enabling discharges to be made.; Witness gave instructions accordingly. To witness's mind,

Captain Evans' appeared to be making the necessary arrangements for the discharge of .five",men from the Athenic to : the .lonic,. Efforts had:been made to get other :men, -but' they all .wanted'something' like £30. for the voyage. '■' Captain Evans appeared to be afraid thaf the Athenic men. !would be .interfered with by .the men who- had beenasking'£3o for the voyage, and might thus bo stopped froni transferring. The five mon were all on.tho articles of the Athenic, and none of them had been discharged., as required by the Act. Witness had no means of/checking deductions ■ from' the. men's pay, if;,any. 'According .to, the Act" they should have .been paid in liis presence;' l; S.'Captain '-11ios'i\'W7.V'Keo'n0;./assistant shipping' master,- stated that/'in .consequence ; of, instructions from Captain Smith,; he kept the Government Shipping Office open from closing-; 1 time,'''4:3o p';m.,- until' ,6'.'45'-plm!/'waiting' for tho purser of the lonic' to tako his papers aivriy, and. to ship the men his vessel required beforo she could leave port. Witness had told Captain Evans that he was going to' close the office for a quarter of an hour, in order to get tea. He shipped no men for thoTloiiic.

. ,To Mr. Myers: Ho waited to sign, on firemen for the lonic if' inquired. • •. Witness had- heard that men were asking for tig ' money. v : Re-examined by Mr. Myers: Captain Smith had said that Captain Evans had asked that the -office •should, bo kept open to enable; firemen to be shipped. ' Mr. Gray, for defendant, '.stated that , instead of engaging men at £30 Captain Evans had asked for volunteers from the Athenic to transfer to-the lonic, and : the necessary • men came forward. The process 'of-transfer was \covcred in the . agreement in , the articles, which the ; Company had been working on, for at' least 16 to 18 years, past, which agreement stipulated that the men' could transfer from one vessel of the Company's fleet-to another at any- port. and at any time. The agreement was issued on'the Board of Trade , form, and was sanctioned bv.'the authorities. It was, suggested that under local legislation tho Captain of ■ the vossol had. committed an offence, but the men had not. been discharged'in Now Zealand, nor had. their engagements been terminated. Thoy had transferred from ono of tho~Company's vessels to another, and their wages would go on just the same. There could bo no termination 'of the/ agreement until the men; wero discharged. There was no : definition of the word "discharge" in tho Act', but the dictionary meaning ot the word was termination of employment, to send away from service, or to dismiss. These meanings could not apply in the present case. .Tho men's discharge books were placed in tho hands Vif the purser of the lonic, and the wages and deductions would be checked on arrival Home. • / • Captain W. J. Evans, Marino Superintendent for Shaw, Savill, and Albion Co.,de- / posed that £8 10s. per mouth failed to "draw men to fill certain vacancies in the lonic's engine-room, the men who offered their services asking from £25 to £30 for the trip. Witness made arrangements for tho shipping offico to bo kept open in case the -men .who were asking such a high priro should change their minds and sign on. Subsequently the officer who had 1 been left in charge , of the shipping office, said ho was going to close tlu offico while he went away for tea, and asked witness's permission to do so. Ho did not agreo to tho proposal, and left under the impression that the offico was going to be closed. ,On the suggestion of tho captain of -the lonic, witness called for volunteers on the Athenic, with tho result that the number of men required came forward, and were' paid £4 a month extra for tlio trip Homo. To "Mr. Myers : Witness took the men oh board tho lonic at about 6.10. Tho men were taken from ono ship to the other in a launch, and were not taken to the shipping office. One of the reasons which prompted witness to take tho men in tho launch was to .keep them from tho men who had offered to.ship at from £25 to £30, as the latter might try to interfere with or intimidate tho firemen who were making the oxchaiigo. C. i'reeman-Matthows, purser of tho Athenic, deposed that the men wero not paid off. Their wages and deductions wero mado up, and tho dischargo books handed to tho pursor of the lonic. Mr. Myers submitted that tho paragraph in tho agreement oil tho articles could have no effect in tho present caso, as it could not dispenso with the statutory requirements regarding tho engagement ahd discharge 1 of tho crow. It was an agreement botween the master and tho crew, and not between the owners and the crew. If the master of. tho Athenic desired somo of bis men to go to tho lonic, ho could command them to do so, and if they refused ho could proceed against them for breach of contract. Counsel contended that it was'juggling with words to say 'that theso men wore not discharged from tho Atlionic, and that their engagement with that ship had not terminated. They might still be in the service of the same company, but thoy wero no longer engaged on tho samo ship or under tho samo master. There was nothing, in either the. English or New Zealand Acts which authorised or contemplated the transfer of seamen from one ship tj-another, except in the manner authorised

by statut(v—namely, by discharge from one ship and signing on .tho ..articles of another. Therei Was no reason for not going to tho' shipping 'office other ,;than' 'tho ' fact that; Captain' Evans!', was afraid 'tho moti '.might; ha'yo been prevented from doing what they, had offered to do'. This fact might go in, mitigation of' tho penalty, but'c'qukl. go further. ' ...; 1 . 'Mr.' Gray .pointed out, that, if the, men bad; been .taken., to the shipping'office and Jiad been discharged, they could then havo'refused to sign on the other boat, and could have taken up work'in 1 New-Zealand. His, .Worship reserved: his decision until, Thursday iribrning. ... ~ . . , IDLE. AND. DISORDERLY. ' ' '' . •Ail ' old man, Henry Charles Cfriiiul, pleaded guilty to a"charge of boi|ig an idle and disorderly person without, visible means of; support.' Sub - Inspector O'Do'novan stated 1 , that defendant, who was 67 years' of : age, .had been sleeping in unoccupied bouses of' late, - also" on' doon-stops and verandahs.-' A 'remand was .granted until Friday^-to en--able tho Benevolent Trustees to consider defendant's case. .V, INSOBRIETY. A young, 1 able-bodied man named William Cotter, charged with insobriety, asked for a chance t,o turn over; a new leaf, and that a prohibition ''order should issue against him. His Worship entered a conviction and fine of 10s., in default 48 hqurs' imprisonment, j and ordered the issue of a prohibition order. ~ ... .