RUSTED WIRE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 120, 25 May 1925, Page 6

RUSTED WIRE

IN CANADIAN SHIPMENT

CLAIM AGAINST SHIPPING CO.

Mr. Justice Ostler and a special jury of which Mr. Frank Goldberg is foreman, are engaged at the Supreme Court today in hearing an action brought by John Burns and Co., Ltd., Auckland, against the New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd., claiming £182 for damage done by corrosion to a cargo of galvanised wire shipped in Louisberg, Canada, on 3rd March 1923 and landed in Lyttelton on 12th May, 1923. -, Mr. M. Myers, X C and Mr. W p erry represented the plain! tiffs, and Mr. A. W. Blair the defendants.

Hie submission of the plaintiffs was that in spite of the numerous conditions on which cargo was received the wive was either not cared for sufficiently on being shipped, or there was negligence in carriage owing to unseaworthiness of the ship concerned as far as her cargocarrying capacity was concerned. The allegation was that the hold in which the wir o was stowed was insufficiently ventilated and was damp. It was admitted that the wire was shipped in apparently good condition, but m atmospheric conditions consistent wiuh a temperature below zero. The submission for the defence was that the ship was in seaworthy condition, there being no water in contact with the wirp i"i ,th?P, hold bein S sufficiently, ventilated. The reason suggested for the corrosion was natural sweating, caused in the first place by the freezing conditions under which it was loaded. Further the defence was that the damage to the wire was caused 'by rust. ■The case is of some importance to importers and shipowners owing to a lar'a number of claims for damage to wive from America, having already been made or being in the course of preparation. *• B. Amadeo, for the plaintiffs, cave evidence as to the wire arriving in bad condition.

Cross-examined, witness said there had Been a lot of claims concerning wire arriving f rom America. Mr. Blair: "Is it not a fact that since the war it is unusual for an undamaged cargo _of wire landed in America- during winter (o arrive in New Zealand?"— 1 would not admit that. Ido not know that .it varies greatly." "Hive you ever heard of what is called the wiping process, whereby the wire is wiped after the zinc smelting bath?" — <( I have no knowledge of it." "Is not the English wire much rougher than trie American wire?"—"l don't know anything about it." Mr, Myers: "I don't suppose there is any one in New Zealand who does " Mr. Blair: "Well, they will know after, this case. :v

(Proceedine.^