CLAIM FOR £100,000

Grey River Argus, 18 March 1941, Page 5

CLAIM FOR £100,000

Shipping Collision COURT AWARDS AN EVEN BREAK. (Received March 18, 12.40 a.m. > MELBOURNE,. March 17. The Australian High Court, sitting in Admiralty jurisdiction to-day, found that the masters and crews of both the Union Company’s steamer “Kairanga”’ and the “Empire Star” were equally to blame for the collision in Sydney harbour on the night of March 7, 1940. The owners of the “Empire Star”, Frederick Leyland and Company, Ltd. claimed twenty-five thousand pounds damages. The Union Steamship Company claimed seventy-five thousand pounds damages. The Court found that the “Empire Star” was on her wrong side, and that no proper look-out' had been kept, while in the case of the “Kairanga,” which was extensively damaged, there was an insufficient lookout at the time of the collision. In addition, the “Kairanga” had ported too soon. The collision was the outcome of a combination of faults on the two ships. The Court apportioned the damages equally between the owners of the tw 0 ships. There was no order made on costs.