RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT. Friday.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1516, 3 October 1868, Page 6

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT. Friday.

(Before T. Beckham T.gq. B.Jf.) A special sitting of the BetiJent Jlaoistrate'. Court was held yesterday, at the Court House. Eden, street, at noon, when the followingcaae was broneht on for hearing :— 6 COMBES AND DALDV T. BEWAED. Claim £10 12s 6d> loss by leakage of st qr.-cask of ruin. Mr. Jas. Unssell for plaintiffs ; Mr. Bereridca fodefen.iant. Upon the caae being called at 5 minutes after 12 there was no appearance of defendant or his counsel' Mr. Jag. Hussell stated that ha had been informed by Mr, Lodge (Olerk of tho Court), that the Court House, .Eden-street, had been expressly mentioned in the summons as the place of hearing. They howerehed no objection to wait. Shortly afterwards Capt. Seward made his appearance in Court, and stated that hia solicitor, Mr. Beveridge, was not there, but that ho expected him momentarily. She Couri granted a further delay of some few: mitiutes whoii Mr. Bevoridge appeared, and the at wao proceeded with, and Mr. James Kussell opened the Casa by stating that the action was brought by Mesars. Combes and Daldy, against Captain Reward, of the ship Uacehor.se. Messrs. Combes and Daldy were the holders of a hill of lading by which Capt. Seward agreed to deliver 10 qr-caslcs rum, and the action was to recover one of thoBG casks. Application had been made to defendant for the cask and the answer hit', been that tho cask had been badly headed, and the rum had leaked through, and that it bid happ-nsd through the fault of tne stevedores. 'Xho following evidence "WiF. then called : —

, !I * ri W' deposed : X nai bolder of the bul Ot lading produced, by 'which. £ "was to rcceive 10 quarter-casks of rum—!o to 25. I received number 2d empty. , I tent tho account for it in to the agents of the Racehorse, nnd hr.vo received no satisia fci'-'ii. I estimate iny loss at £10 12-3 fJd. < rosa-cxaminsd by Mr. BeveriJge: I curraot tell what the rum cost without skeins: the invoice—perhaps ,4s 3d per gallon. I cannot tell how many gallons were in the cask. I did not gaa°e it. Wa charge 7s Id per gallon here. I have sold the same rum in the same casks at that pries. Freight was paid in London. The -Is 3d does not covir she freight. It is the invoice price. Ido not know what the extra charges will be.

By Mr. liussell: 7 estimate the value by what Mr. Jones sold the rest at by auction here. Mr. Bc-veridge, in reply to the Court, ss id that the defence denied all liability with regard to the cask of rum.

His Honor 6ai 1 that it would devolve upon the defendants to show that there was no neglect in " carrying."

Ohavles ATcKae, cooper, deposed: I made a survey of the cask in question at the Queen's warehouse. There ware two other coopers with me, Captain Daldy, and some of the Cuatom-housa officers. X then made a written statement about it, (statement handed in and read, to the effect that the cause of leakage of the ca3k resulted from undue pressure on the quarter.) 1 saw the cask to-day. My opinion is the sums still. I tried the compasses round the cask.. It had a severe blow, apparently on the quarter, and appeared as if a lever had been used under one of the staves. Tho head wa3 about J inch out, and was in 4 pieces. The middle piece was started out. Ten minuteß' work would make the cnak in first-rate order.

Cross - examined by Mr. Beveridge : I have had no experience of stowage of casks on board ship. I did not say it was the result of bad stowage. I do not know what ship it came out in. If that cask had been empty for 30 dava, and had been properly stowed, Ido not believe that it would have gone out of shape. 51r. Mackywrote the certificate; I told him what to put in it. Thdre is nothing in it but what I caused to be putin. It is asserted in the certificate "that the accident occurred through bad stowage. I could give no othe* certificate. Capt. Daldy was not present when thecertificate was written.

By Mr. Russell: I have been a cooper all my life. Frederick Len, cooper, gave similar evidence to that of the last witness. Had been a cooper fifteen years. The cask was a good one, but had received a wrench on the chime.

By the Court: A. cisual observer would not the mark of injury on the cask. James Bruce, a coopar for 40 Jyears, gave similar eridence'as the last witnesses.

Cross-examined by Sir. Beveridge : "We could" not eea the injury until the head wag tak?n out.

By the Couit: The injury was of such a kind that the contents would run out faster than drop by drop. Mr. Russell applied for leave to recall the plaintiff in order to connect the cast 111 question witlx the oru in the bill of lading. The Court granted the application, and Captain Daldy deposed: That he pointed out a cask to the last witness, and that it was one of those mentioned in the bill of lading. Cross-examined by Mr. Beveridge : I have had the survey msde by Capfc. Anderson served upon me.

By the Court: I had no notice that the survey was to take place. When my survey of cooparß washeld , I gare Messrs. Cruickshank's notice, and a cooper attended on their behalf.

This closed the plaintiff's case. Captain Hugh Anderson, deposed: I am a marinesurveyor, and have bean oqo for 4 or 5 years. I have been about 22 years connected wi'-h. the sea. Almost every ship that comes to port is brought under my noiico as a surveyor. I know the ship Racehorse,, and acted as a marine surveyor on board of her. My attention was directed to the cask in question daring the time vessel was discharging. I saw the cask before it was moved, and examined the stowage. Th«stowage was pood, bung up and bilge free; the cask was empty. I think the leakage was caused by a defective head. The cask was removed to the Queen's Warehouse. I gave in ray survey produced in Oourt. Cross - examined by Mr. Russell : Captain Clayton was the other surveyor with me.. He did not see the cask at all. I do not think tho Customs officer was present when the cask wis removed from its stowage. It is usual for an officer to be present to satisfy themsalve3 a3 to the duty on the cask. It was stowed in the lower hold, on the port side before the main hatch. I should say about 6 feet below the beams. I think that bottled beer was stowed above it. I took a note of it, but lost the book containing all my surveys overboard. I was employed by the defendant. The cask was broken out in ray presence.

Captain W. if. Seward, of the Racehorse, deposed : My attention was first called to the cask by the second mate, and it was noc disturbed until the following morning, when Captain •Anderson surveyed it. The cask was properly stowed. I have been master of a ship for 12 years.

Cross-eximineby Mr. Kussell: I d'd not inform Messrs. Combes aud Daldy about 'the cask. It waa landed with the rest of the cargo. I consider the oa-. **-as bad. 1 signed the bill of lading for the casks as io. some being bad. The bad ones we selected by the chief mate iu London, 'ihe cask question might hav.i been overlooked. The cas was not a new one by any meins. I did not thin it necessary to give the consignees an opportunity of seeing the cask before it left the fhip. This closed tho evidence for defendant.

The learned counsel on both aides addressed the Court, and the Court considered that the only matter for its decision w.is, whether the dnmage arose from, carelessness of the carrier 'whilst in his possession.

The Court thought that it would always be well in cases of the kind to call in thn consignees to view a cask beforo it was removed from a vessel. Had any injury occurred in London to occasion leakage, had it been only drop by drop, it must have been noticed by the stevedore or officers of the ship. It would havs be9n wiser to have settled the matter out of Court. There was no alternative but to give judgment for plaintiffs-

T.Trs. Jones, a farmer's wife in Connecticut, says, I believe I've got the tendemt-hearted boys in the world. I cau't tell ono of 'era to fetch a pail of water, but wh-it he'd bnrst out crying." It is stated, that an Irishman called upon a disciple of Esculapius and informed him that his wife was sick, and required medical attendance. The M.D. was willing to give attention to the case, but desired the man to pay in advance, or enter into an ageement to pay when his services were no longer required. The physician proposed to take charge of the case for 520d015. "An' it'll be kill or cure for 20dols.?" said Pat. "Yes." Pat was satisfied, and left M.D. to perform the contract. The woman, died, and in due time he presented him his bill.. Pat looked at it a moment, and then asked : " did yez cure her?" "No," auswered the physician. "An' did yez kill her ?" This ivas a poser and the M.D. discovered that Pat had caught him . The bill, at last accounts, had not been paid.