ATHENIC TO lONIC. A TRANSFER OF FIREMEN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1908, Page 7

ATHENIC TO lONIC. A TRANSFER OF FIREMEN.

WAS IT LAWFUL? UNUSUAL CASE IN COURT. Before Mr. W. G. Riddell, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court this morning, Captain Kempson, master of ths Athenic, was charged with transferring firemen from the Athenic to the lonic wi fl i out first discharging them. IVIr. Myors prosecuted on behalf o£ the Marine Department, and Mr. A. Gray appeared for defendant. Captain J. G. Smith, Superintendent Mercantile Marine, stated that the lonic departed from Wellington at the same time that the Athenic was in port. Witness was requested on 3rd January to keep his office open, and arranged to do so. Captain Evans, Marine Superintendent for tha Shaw, Savill Co., made the request, but up 'to the time of leaving at 4.30 no one attended at the office. Witness was required to keep his office open for the purpose of «ye men on the Athenic receiving theii) discharges. Captain Evans said that he had endeavoured to obtain men for the lonic, but they required £30 a man for the voyage Home, and he (Evans) was arranging iov the transfer oi ive men from "the Athonic to the lonic. Captain Evans did not attend at witness's office, but stated that he took them straight aboard the lonic as possibly they might havo been prevented from going on board that vessel. Each of tho five men referred to was on the articles of the Athenic, and had not been legally discharged under sections 65 and 66 of the Shipping and Seamen's Act. Witness had nad no means of checking any deductions that might have been made from the men's pay. According to the Act they should have been paid in witness's presence. To Mr. Gray : The arrangement for keeping thß office open ,was to enable Captain Evans to transfer men from the Athenic to the lonic if necessary. Witness did not know whether his assistant remained at the office after 4.30. Captain T. G. Keane. assistant-ship-ping master at Wellington, stated that on 3rd January, acting on instructions, he kept the office open from 4.30 to -7 p.m. for the purpose of enabling the master of the lonic to ship mon. The purser came for the ship's articles, but did not ship any men. To. Mr. Gray: ' The Athenic's articles were in the office at the time. Witness told Captain Evans that he intended to close tho office whilst he went for dinner and would be away for a quarter of an hour. Mr. Gray, in his opening statement for th& defence, stated that Captain Fjvans asked for volunteers from the Athenic and the transfer was provided for under the regulations issued by the British Board of Trade by agreement in ths articles which provided that the men could be transferred from one vessel to another of the same owner's fleet at any time. The agreement was embodied in a form issued by tho Board of Trade. H© contended that the men had not been discharged but were still in the employ of the same company; until the agreement was terminated they could not be discharged. Captain Evans, superintendent for Shaw Savill and Albion Company, stated that the Ipnic was short of firemen and ho had failed to get the places filled at ±»8 10s per month. Some of the men demanded £25 for the voyage home, and said they would require £30 next day. Witness arranged for the shipping office to be kept open in case some of the men changed their minds. He had not mentioned to Captain, Smith that he desired to transfer men from the Athenic to the lonic, but just after 5 p.m. Captain Carter, of tho lonic, made the suggestion to him. The men of the Athenic volunteered for the lonic and wero given an additional £4 per month and promised employment in London for the month awaiting the arrival of the Athenic. Witness had had a conversation with Captain Keene, who said he was going to dinner, and ns the office would not be then open, he- conveyed the men per launch from the Athenic to the lonic. To Mr. Myers: Witness did not take the men ,o the office as he accepted Captain KJaene's statement that he would not be there. One of the factors in witness's mind that caused him to convey the nvsn in the launch was to avoid the "dog in the manger men" who might intimidate ihe men and prevent them going aboard the lonic. At ten minutes East 5 Captain Keene told witness that o would not be back till 6.30. Witness had no knowledge of any jrimilar transfer having taken place in Wellington. Freeman Matthews, purser of th& Athenic, stated that he had made upths accounts of each of the firemen's wages up to the time they were transferred to the lonic and their discharge books were handed over to the purser of the lonic. To. Mr. Myers : The men's wages accounts were made up to the third January; afterwards to lonic would be debited with their wages. They would require to sign new articles before joining the Athenic again. Mr. Myers contended that the paragiaph in the articles referred x to by Mr. Gray could not have any effect on the question of discharge. There was nothing in the English or New Zealand Acts to provide for such transfer except by first being discharged. To submit that tho men were not discharged ■was simply juggling with words. Tha dominant factor of Captain Evans's motive was that if they were taken to >the shipping office and discharged they would be intimidated and jproßably refuse to carry out their promise. Ho submitted that the offence had been proved. Mr. Gray contended that under the agreement tho men had not been discharged. Decision was reserved until 10 a.m. on Thursday.