NO TICKET

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 118, 22 May 1925, Page 8

NO TICKET

THE KAITUNA'S SURVEY

MASTER FINED £5.

The obligation which re?t3 on shipping masters to comply with the provisions of the Shipping and Seamen Act, in regard to the survey of their ships, was empha: sised in the Magistrate's Court to-day, when G. B. Morgan was charged with taking th 6 steamer Kaituna to sea from Greymouth without being in possession of a valid survey ticket. He pleaded guilty.

Mr. J.. M. Tudhope, of the Crown Law Office, prosecuted. "It is a simple case," said Mr. Tudhope, who explained that the information was laid by the Superintendent of Mercantile Marine under section 171 of the Shipping and- Seamen Act, 1908, which required that once a year every steamship should, be surveyed and examined to see if she wa» seaworthy. Tha surveyor. _ after examination, forwarded to the Minister of Marine a statement showing what he had found. If the declaration complied with the Act, the Secretary of Marine issued a survey certificate which entitled the vessel to proceed on her -voyages.. The certificates were issued for a period of not more than one year, and there was provision for extending them one month. The defendant, on tho 4th March, was master of the U.S.S. Company's Kaituna, a -vessel of about 1200 tons, which was in Greymouth. The Kaituna's certificate expired on the 31st January, 1925, and the maximum extension of a month was granted, which covered her till the 28th February. On the «h March the defendant took the vessel to Auckland without obtaining a fresh certificate. ;'lt may appear to be a very small offence^in this case," said counsel, "but the Department wants it understood that the provisions of the Act cannot be ignored. The certificate has since been given. The defendant said he had half-loaded when the certificate expired, and as Greymouth was not a survey port, he thought he could proceed to Auckland to complete survey. Mr. Tudhope: "It waß the company's duty to see that before she got to Greymouth the Kaituna had, a certificate which would enable her to get away from there. '

c S l!\ ,°S?i ilp (Mr- C- B- OIT Walker, N.M.,): What was the defendant to do when he arrived from Newcastle, say on the expiry date of the certificate?" Mr. Tudhope: "A survey can be made at any of the ports by sending a surveyor there. That is done quite frequently. * The defendant said it was not survey but the docking; there was no dock at Ureymoiitli, so he was going to Auckland to dock.

His Worship suggested that the ship could have run over from Picton, where she called, to Wellington for docking "I think a fine of £5 will meet the case " he said. '