PALLOT V. FRANKLIN.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5163, 27 August 1878, Page 2

PALLOT V. FRANKLIN.

Sir, — I hope you will grant me space for a few words in reply to a letter signed " London Dock " in this evening's Telegraph. It is not I, sir, that have a " foggy idea " on the subject of the Pallot v. Franklin case ; it is the Telegraph and its assisting correspondents who want to fog the quesiton, so as to make out what a great wrong has been inflicted on Mr Pallot— and inflicted, too, by Mr Stuart. 1 contend that, in dealing with the case he had before him, the magistrate was not required to go into the question of the ship's responsibility, the insurance expiring, the goods being left at the mercy of the Harbor Board, the custom of firms in England, the endorsing of a bill of lading or boat-note, or the custom of dock companies, as " London Dock " would seem to indicate. The " real question to be tried " was no more any one of those things than it was as to " the right of a carrier to go to a shipping office," or the right of a carrier, when he has gone to a shipping office, " to ask for a permit to remove a case of merchandise." What the magistrate had to try was whether Franklin should be mulcted in damages for the service he had performed as carrier under the authority of the agent of the ship. Had Franklin acted without authority the case against him would have been clear, bat Mr Pallot admits himself that Franklin had authority. Now what would Mr Pallot, the Telegraph , and "London Dock " have 1 Would they have liked the magistrate to have punished Franklin for having under lawful authority acted as a carrier 1 If the system pursued here is a bad one, that is another matter. It is plain enough that that was not under trial before Mr Stuart, and so all the arguments in the world to prove that what was done should not under a proper system be done, will not go to prove that the decision he gave was wrong, however much it may be calculated to serve the purpose of the Telegraph in its antagonism against the Mayor.— l am, &c, Conn. August 26, 1878.