A SKIPPING CASE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 79, 5 April 1910, Page 71

A SKIPPING CASE.

IMPORTANT ACTION. SHIPS REGISTERED OUTSIDB NEW ZEALAND. DOES THE ARBITRATION R'ATB APPLY? The hearing of a special cane, th* Huddart-Parker Shipping Company v. Charles Stafford Nixon, Collector of Customs at Wellington, was commenced in the Appeal Court 10-day. His Honour the Chief Justice presided, and Mr. Justice Williams, Mr. Justice»Edwards, and Mr. Justice Chapman were also on the Bench. The appellants are a joint stock company incorporated in Victoria, where their ships are registered. The wages paid by the company are those fixed by the articles. These wages, in the case of engineers, are in some instances equal to, or greater than, the current rate of wages payable in New Zealand, but in other instances are less than the current rate of wages payable in New Zealand. In fact the wages paid are those fixed by an award of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. The Marine Department«of New Zealand claims that while the company's ships are in New Zealand ports and also while they are travelling between two New Zealand ports the company is bound under section 75 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908, to pay the New Zealand current rate of wages to the crews, and that under section 75, subsection 3, the Collector of Customs ia entitled to refuse the ship's clearance till the crew has been paid the current rate of wages ruling\n New Zealand or any difference between the agreed rate of wages and the New Zealand rate; and, further, that seamen employed by the company are entitled to suo it in New Zealand for the current rate of wages, notwithstanding the provisions of the Victoria statute and the agreement in the articles. Sub-section 3 of section 75 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908, states : — "The Collector of Customs shall detain the final clearance of such ship until he is satisfied that the crew has been paid the current rate of wages ruling in New Zealand, or any difference between the agreed rate of such wages and the New Zealand rate of wages." The questions submitted to the court were :—: — 1. Does section 75 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908, apply to the company's ships (a) while in New Zealand ports, (b) while at sea between New Zealand ports? 2. Are the above-mentioned contentions of the Marine Department wellfounded ? 3. Has the Superintendent of Mercantile Marine the right to make the endorsement mentioned in sub-section 2 of section 75 of the Shipping and Sea-

men Act, 1908, on thct articles of the company's ships trading in New Zealand waters? 4. Can seamen on the company's ships sue in New Zealand for the current rate of wages here, notwithstanding that a different rate of wages is fixed by the articles '! Mr. Chapman. K.C., with him Mr. Hadfield, appeared for the HuddartParker Company, and Mr. Myers for the Colector of Customs. After heating argument the couit leserved judgment.